


Magic is Most Definitely Real

by tyranstuff123



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Bit of homophobia, Cinderella AU, M/M, but still soonhoon cuz it's cute, except with Jeonghan and Seungcheol, imagine the live action Cinderella, jeongcheol - Freeform, side soonhoon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2019-08-24 20:44:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 27,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16647473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyranstuff123/pseuds/tyranstuff123
Summary: What were the chances that Jeonghan would've met a beautiful stranger in the woods? Someone who was smart and real and kind, who didn't care about the way Jeonghan's hair was long, or that he was from a poor family in the country-side...(Jeongcheol in Cinderella au)





	1. Things you don't see in the forest

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so the original Cinderella story features little interactions from the two, and that's not gonna work. So here's THIS version, hope it's good!

* * *

In summer his mother died.

The following winter his father remarried.

In spring a cat moved in. Oh- and also his new family. His stepmother and stepsisters, he guessed.

Jeonghan should’ve been fine with it. He was a solid sixteen years of age and in dire need of interaction with people his own age. Jisoo didn’t count, the other boy was terrifyingly smart and _cool_ for sixteen. Besides, Jisoo was studying in America for the good part of the year. Living out in the middle of nowhere in Korea didn’t supply a lot of chances for Jeonghan to acquire new company.

Jia and Hayoon. Those were his new stepsisters, and the cat was called Daisy. The name didn’t suit it. Jeonghan much preferred the rats over that cursed cat.

In summer, his father died.

 

**.   . .**

 

The crash of the plate rang throughout the kitchen. Jia shrieked. Jeonghan went to pick it up. “Oh thank you, darling.” His stepmother says.

Jeonghan smiles, “Oh, it’s nothing.” And that first time it really was nothing. The second, third, and fourth times were _somethings_. And everytime after his father died, it became everything.

 _It’s to distract you from your grief_ was what his stepmother had told him after every chore she assigned. For a while, it did.

Jeonghan had just finished packing and moving all his things into the attic when a knock sounded on the window.

“ _Jisoo?_ ” Jeonghan nearly jumps at the sight. “You’re two stories off the ground, jesus christ.” And went to unlatch the lock on the window for his best friend.

“Hannie! Thank goodness I found you!”

“How’d you even get _up_ here?” But Jeonghan doesn’t even care how. More importantly, “How did you know I was _here_?”

“Well,” Jisoo laughs, “I went to check _your_ room, which you’re supposed to be in, but only saw your sisters. I think I might've scared Hayoon, but anyways, why are _you_ up here?”

Jeonghan scowls, “ _Madame_ made me move to the attic.”

“She _what_? And you just let her?”

Jeonghan rocks back and forth on the balls of his feet. “Well, technically I offered to _share_ some of my room space with my step sisters, but then she booted me up here.”

Jeonghan knew the disapproving look on his best friend’s face all too well, and he wasn’t in the mood to hear it. “It’s really nothing. The attic is bigger anyways, I like it.”

“You shouldn’t let her push you around, Hannie. Why don’t you just run away?”

Jeonghan bursts out laughing. “Run away? This is my family’s home. Not hers. I’m not leaving.”

“She’s treating you like trash.”

“It’s not that bad.” He protests.

Jisoo looks over at him doubtfully, but Jeonghan knows Jisoo can't win this argument. _Jisoo_ knows he can't win this argument. “Okay.”

And Jeonghan takes his life without argument. He painfully wakes up before dawn every morning to take out the trash, do laundry, and cook breakfast.

“Jeonghan, my shoelaces.” Jia calls from the foyer, where light is spilling in on a sunny afternoon.

“I can teach you how to tie them.” Jeonghan offers.

“ _Jeonghan_ ,” His stepmother growls, “Are you implying my daughter doesn’t know how to tie her own shoes? That was an order.”

“But-” Jeonghan begins to protest until his stepmother abruptly brings up one of her hands. Jeonghan immediately recoils. He puts his head down and ties Jia’s unnecessarily tall boot. When he’s done Jia kicks his fingers and yanks her foot away. Jeonghan wills himself not to cry.

“Jeonghan dear.” His stepmother puts one finger under his chin and wills him to stand up. Jeonghan braces himself for a scolding, but the woman only says, “Your hair is getting long.”

“I’m not going to cut it.” Jeonghan says, and it's pathetic how he has to muster the broken remains of his courage to say those words.

“Boys shouldn’t have long hair.”

“I’m not going to cut it.”

 

If Jeonghan doesn’t think about it for too long, life wasn’t that bad. He spends his afternoons, when he isn’t knee deep in housework, out riding in the forest.

He wasn’t very good, and he had a sneaking suspicion that this brown-colored colt didn’t like him very much. But Jisoo was back in America for schooling, and Jeonghan had nothing to do. That afternoon he rode the horse out of the stables and it _bolted_ , running full speed towards the trees carrying Jeonghan with it.

_Holy shit._

He clutches onto the horse’s mane.

That was the first time Jeonghan meets _him_. Seungcheol. In the forest.

“Woah,” Jeonghan hears a voice from behind him, and nearly falls off his own horse in surprise.

The stranger urges his own horse towards Jeonghan, but suddenly the stranger's horse is running forward, and Jeonghan’s own colt speeds off yet again. _That boy was probably trying to help me_ . Jeonghan thinks, but it was backfiring, like, _really_ bad.

“Hey!” Jeonghan yells, “Stop your horse!”

The stranger laughs as if he finds this situation funny. “Sorry to break it to you, but I don’t know how.”

 _Great._ Jeonghan thinks. What were the chances that the only two idiots riding out in the middle of the forest would  _both_  be clueless on the matter of riding horses?

Jeonghan hears a yelp from behind him, and turns to see the stranger had fallen off his horse. Jeonghan's own horse turns back of its own will, slowing to a stop next to the fallen stranger.

Jeonghan peers over to look at him. The boy looked to be around his age. Jeonghan probably stares for a couple seconds too long, but it's a _boy._ He doesn't see a lot of those around here. “Are you okay?” Jeonghan asks, sliding off his own horse, offering a hand to help the stranger up. He thinks he probably shouldn’t be associating with weird boys in the forest, but all thoughts fly out his head as the boy turns to look at him.

He was… _hot_. What. “That’s not the first time it’s happened.” The stranger scowls up at his horse.

Jeonghan doesn’t know why, but he starts laughing. “That’s so dumb.”

The boy starts laughing too, and takes Jeonghan’s hand. The initial shock is jarring at first, and Jeonghan has to tell himself _It’s just a hand. He’s just holding your hand._

But the boy doesn’t let go of his hand when he finally gets up, and takes Jeonghan’s hand to inspect it. “Your hand is hurt.” The boy says. He frowns down at Jeonghan’s hand, and Jeonghan can’t really see the expression through the boy’s tousled hair.

Jeonghan looks down at his own hand and frowns. “It’s just some cuts.” It wasn't anything serious, he’d just been sewing his stepmother’s dresses and pricked his fingers a few too many times, hastily washing the blood off to prevent staining the fabric.

The stranger brushes his fingers over the wounds, and Jeonghan snatches his hand back. “You’re kinda strange.” He says, and Jeonghan can still feel the other boy’s feather light touches on his skin. “How come I’ve never seen you around here before?”

The boy quirks an eyebrow, but it looks a little awkward on him. “I, uh… You don’t know me?”

Jeonghan frowns.

“I mean, not that you should.” The boy quickly amends. “I don’t live around here. My name is Seungcheol by the way.”

Jeonghan merely shrugs at the information. “I didn’t ask.”

Seungcheol laughs, and Jeonghan notices he has dimples when he smiles. “This is the part where you tell me your name.”

Jeonghan’s eyes sparkle. “Irrelevant.”

“What?”

“My name is irrelevant, it doesn’t matter. Besides, you’re a stranger.”

“I told you my name.” Seungcheol protests. “Are you an angel?”

Jeonghan blushes. _What?_ “What?”

“You look like one.”

It suddenly dawns on Jeonghan that he has long hair, an oh, _oh_. Seungcheol probably thinks he’s a girl. The realization suddenly makes Jeonghan want to be far away. He likes his hair, and even though not many boys fashioned their hair past their shoulders, Jeonghan likes keeping it that way. No dumb boy is going to change that. “I’m a guy, just so you know.”

Seungcheol shrugs, “Boys can be angels too.”

Jeonghan stares, dumbstruck, at the stranger in front of him. Maybe it was too much to expect others to be disgusted at the notion of a boy with long hair, but not even a smirk? An insult? It was what he had grown up expecting from people whilst he was living under the same roof as his stepmother, who drilled nonsense into his brain about _boys shouldn’t have long hair_ and _people will laugh at you._ Fate was playing some sort of game with him, and it just made Jeonghan more suspicious. He’d been hurt before. “But I have long hair.”

“It looks good on you.”

Jeonghan ignores the way those words pull at something delicate and beautiful in him, that he'd long forgotten existed. “Where are you from?”

“The castle.” The stranger replies, then his eyes widen again, “I mean… yeah, the castle. I’m an... apprentice?”

Jeonghan’s told plenty of lies in his life, and it takes a liar to know a liar. Heck, anyone could tell that Seungcheol was lying, just by the way he was stuttering. But what was there to lie about? “Are you sure about that?”

Seungcheol laughs, “Yeah, I think so.” Jeonghan thinks he might want to be friends with this boy, might want to hear that laugh for the rest of his life.

“I think I should go.” Jeonghan says.

“Do you live here?”

“Why does that matter? Planning on looking for me?” Jeonghan teases, and Seungcheol _blushes_.

“Will you let me find you?” Seungcheol replies tentatively.

Jeonghan doesn’t know why, but he panics. “I should go.” He says again. He wants to kick himself, because there really was _nothing_ wrong with Seungcheol. Maybe that’s why. Jeonghan wants this to be it- and then he can go back to his evil stepmother and remember this sliver of happiness, this moment, and remember Seungcheol as the nice boy from the forest. Seungcheol didn’t need to be burdened by Jeonghan’s problems, and that is why Jeonghan distances himself.

He mounts his horse, but doesn’t get even ten feet away before Seungcheol says, “I hope to see you again.”

Jeonghan can’t keep the grin off his face and has to bite onto his lip before looking back at Seungcheol. The full effect of the other boy’s eyes makes Jeonghan tempted to urge his horse back by him, but instead he says, “What are the chances of that?”

“It’s a small world.”

That much was true. That line had given Jeonghan the chance to say, “Much like your dick, I suppose.” And ride off.

Seungcheol’s laugh followed him home that day, and upon arriving to his room, Jeonghan takes out his stationary and immediately begins writing to Jisoo about the boy he met in the forest.

 

Maybe it is a small world. It definitely isn’t big enough.

It isn’t even small enough, because Jeonghan doesn’t see Seungcheol again in over a year. Maybe it was a dream. Whatever it was, the other boy’s smile soon began fading from Jeonghan’s memory. But it didn’t matter, because they’d only known each other for a few, brief moments.

On his seventeenth birthday Jeonghan expects nothing. Jisoo is back from America, if only for a week, and he'd brought Jeonghan a music box that played some sort of American song. That was far more birthday gifts than he had ever expected, but oh, was Jeonghan wrong.

In the middle of the night his sisters had somehow snuck into his room and managed to bleach his hair, all whilst he was asleep, as some sort of joke.

“Woah,” Jisoo says, upon climbing through the attic window. “Hannie… What’s with the, uh… Your hair?”

Jeonghan tells Jisoo how his sisters had snuck in last night and bleached his hair, and his best friend starts laughing. “And you slept through all of it? Like you didn’t even notice your sisters coming in?”

Jeonghan didn’t expect this kind of reaction, and opens his mouth to defend himself. “ _Excuse_ me, I am a tired, growing boy.”

“You slept through all of it. I can’t believe…”

Turns out, it was a blessing in disguise, because the blonde hair gave Jisoo and Jeonghan something to do for the day. They went out to pick purple flowers in the afternoon, and ground them into a paste.

“This isn’t going to work.” Jeonghan protests, as Jisoo whips up the lavender concoction.

“Oh yes it will.” And it did. That night Jeonghan had purple hair.

“Dude.” Jisoo says, “You look _hot._ And I say this in a completely straight way.”

Jeonghan scoffs, but can’t help staring at his own reflection in the mirror. “My stepmother’s going to flip.”

“Yeah.”

“People are going to stare.” Jeonghan points out, but then comes to realize the truth in his own words. How many people in the kingdom had purple hair? One, now.

“Because I did a _great_ job on your hair.” Jisoo laughs at the rhyme. “Let them.”

 

Jeonghan's stepmother _did_ flip.

“What did you do to your hair?” Her words are tight, each letter dense and heavy. Hayoon and Jia giggle in the background. “What is _this_?”

“What? The purple?” Jeonghan asks. He expected her to be disappointed, but he didn’t expect _this._

“What are people going to think? You’re going to ruin our image!”

“Is it so bad that you have a son with purple hair?” Jeonghan asks incredulously.

He was subconsciously prepared for his stepmother’s next words, but hearing them so explicitly still felt like a blow to the heart. “You are no son of mine.” And that was when everything Jeonghan had feared came true- what he had cried himself to sleep at night worrying about after his father’s death, had not let himself believe.

He has no family.

“You can’t just say that.” Jeonghan bites his tongue to keep himself from crying.

“What would people think if they saw me and my daughters with a gay servant?” His stepmother hisses. “You think I would call _you_ my son?”

Hayoon giggles from behind them, “I bet it was his boyfriend that helped him dye it. The one that sneaks through his window.” _Jisoo._

“Jeonghan, cut your hair.” His stepmother demands.

Jeonghan takes a deep breath, attempting to stabilize his voice. He's pretty sure he's already crying anyways. “No.”

“Jeonghan.”

“No.” Jeonghan repeats.

His stepmother is _furious_ , and he can’t bring himself to look her in the eye. “Why do you do this? If being _gay_ makes you happy, then so be it. But don’t go crying when someone finds you out, you homosexual freak.” She spits out the words like a curse. And as if she hadn’t just broken him, she says, “Now get breakfast ready.”

He does.

When he sets the table his stepmother swipes his plate and cups off the tablecloth with a single hand. “Servants don’t sit with the family. You can eat afterwards.”

And Jeonghan snaps.

And he runs.

 

Jeonghan’s riding hadn’t improved exponentially over the past year, that much was evident. The horse, however, liked him a little more than it did before.

Jeonghan remembers the first time he'd gotten on a horse, when his father was teaching him how to ride. The spotted mare had trotted round and round in circles, chasing a bee. Jeonghan had been terrified, and when he ended up home his mother had laughed and kissed him on the cheek as he recounted the day’s events. He went to sleep that night dreaming of the ride, happy to be home.

Now, he was riding at full speed away from home. How funny.

He urges the horse forward, faster.

His emotions are lost in the wind as it whistles past his ears. Like literally, he hopes the wind had dried out his tears. Crying sucks, but he’s been doing a lot of that lately.

The horse continues speeding forward, faster, and Jeonghan isn’t afraid. It isn’t happiness, but he smiles. It’s freedom, if only for a bare second.

As his senses find their way back to him he hears the distant sound of trotting, not from his own horse, and with it, voices.

Okay maybe not “distance”, because the voices were nearing, and Jeonghan thinks he can make out three silhouettes past the blanket of trees. He urges his horse to stop and it immediately, abruptly does. Jeonghan can feel the sudden stillness in his body as everything comes back at him. He wishes he could’ve just ridden on forever. Jeonghan frowns at the three people past the trees, who probably couldn’t see him, and curses at them for ruining his escape plan, which wasn’t really an escape or a plan, and certainly not their fault. Jeonghan would have to turn back and face his stepmother again sooner or later, with or without the sudden presence of three strangers minding their own business in the woods. But they _were_ the reason Jeonghan was turning back now, because Jeonghan didn’t want to see people, and he was sure people didn’t want to see him.

He urges his own horse back around, but it doesn’t move. Then Jeonghan swivels his own body around and comes face to face with a stag. “What the-” Jeonghan starts, and it really was a beautiful stag, but at that moment his own horse starts running full speed away.

“Holy shit.” _Shit, shit, shit._ Jeonghan thinks. He doesn’t even know what direction he’s going in, and he doesn’t exactly trust his own horse to ride him to safety.

_Well, I guess this is it. My stepmother will have one less burden, that is, “taking care” of me. I hope Jisoo remembers me. Well..._

There is a trotting sound behind him and Jeonghan assumes it's the stag, until he hears someone say, “Woah, hey, are you okay?”

Jeonghan’s mind was busy wondering how Jisoo would react to this situation, and half a mind to place the voice somewhere around the back of his brain, when it clicked with a far, distant memory.

A smile was suddenly clear at the forefront of his mind. Jeonghan thought he’d forgotten it. The stranger, the boy, from a year ago…

The voice is suddenly beside him, matching the pace of Jeonghan’s horse with his own, but with far greater ease. “Hey, wait a second…”

“I’m sorry,” Jeonghan says, mildly annoyed that this guy was trying to hold onto a conversation while Jeonghan was busy trying to hold onto his life. “Just wait second while I'm trying to not die.”

The guy leans forward and places his hand on the mane of Jeonghan’s own horse, and Jeonghan says, “Are you crazy? You’re gonna fall off, or…” He trails off as he feels his own horse slow to a trot.

Once Jeonghan has gathered his senses he turns to look at the face that belonged to the voice and… yeah, his smile is just as blindingly beautiful as it was a year before. _Seungcheol_. That was his name.

The boy opens his mouth but no words come out. And then Seungcheol says, “You dyed your hair.”

Jeonghan touches his purple locks, suddenly aware of the way Seungcheol is staring. It isn’t amusement, or disgust, and the fact that it's neither of those, and possibly something else entirely, makes Jeonghan uncomfortable. “Yeah, so?”

Seungcheol smiles, “It looks nice.” Neither of them are really sure how to continue, and Seungcheol hesitates and says, “Hi.”

Jeonghan can’t help the smile that's somehow found a way onto his face. “Wow.” He says.

Seungcheol has this dazed look, and maybe he always looks like that. “What?”

“You really do have a small dick.” Jeonghan replies, and he laughs at his own joke.

The other boy is suddenly alert, alive, and blushing. “Do you really want to see it that badly?” Seungcheol teases in return, although his face is burning.

“In your dreams.” The last word comes out before his horse suddenly sways back a little and Jeonghan is caught off guard. Seungcheol places his hand on Jeonghan’s arm, assuring him, or something like that. Whatever the reason was, the hold is strong and firm, and Jeonghan tenses up because Seungcheol's hand is also freezing cold from the wind and riding (which is true, but that's not the reason he tenses up).

“Do you remember me?” Seungcheol asks, and Jeonghan thinks that it’s a very stupid question to be asking at this point, since they were already a good way into a conversation.

 _Has anyone ever forgotten you?_ Jeonghan wants to reply, but that’s dumb and Jeonghan doesn’t know why he thinks it, so instead he says, “Evidently, yeah.”

“What’s my name?”

“Is this a test?”

“Maybe.”

Jeonghan rolls his eyes, “Seungcheol.” Seungcheol has this dumb smile on his face and Jeonghan has to look away. “What?”

“You remembered.”

“Has anyone ever forgotten you?” _Woah, okay_ , Jeonghan didn’t mean to say that. Apparently the sentence didn’t fade into nothingness, and instead hid, only to reappear at the worst time.

“I was worried you would.”

Jeonghan has to keep himself from staring and coughs, “Uh, yeah, good that… I didn’t?” Seungcheol’s smile is back again and Jeonghan searches his brain desperately for something to say, because Seungcheol’s mouth moving doesn’t give him time to do that dimple-smile, which apparently, Jeonghan is weak for, which doesn’t really make sense… “What’s _my_ name?”

Seungcheol blinks. “That’s not fair.”

“Why not?” He asks innocently.

“Because you wouldn’t tell me last time we met.” Seungcheol whines.

Jeonghan shrugs, “Guess that’s your problem then.”

At that moment a voice from behind them shouts, “Seungcheol?” Jeonghan turns to see two more people, who look to be about the same age as him, probably friends with Seungcheol, wandering around past the trees. He makes eye contact with one of them, but the stranger averts his gaze to the left, where Seungcheol is. “Oh, there you are, your high-”

“Your hi to you too!” Seungcheol hastily interrupts.

Seungcheol’s two friends exchange glances between each other, and then the former one looks between Jeonghan and Seungcheol and forms an opened mouthed “o”. “What do you want, Soonyoung?” Seungcheol says.

Soonyoung shrugs, “Well you know we _were_ looking for _you,_ but apparently you’re busy flirting, so…”

Seungcheol groans and buries his face in his hands, and Jeonghan can’t help but find this a little amusing.

“Hey,” Soonyoung waves, and Jeonghan realizes that it’s directed at him. “I like your hair.”

Under any other circumstance, Jeonghan might’ve assumed it was a mocking statement, but Soonyoung has a light green tint in his own hair, and Seungcheol’s other friend, who hasn’t really spoken (mostly, Jeonghan notices he’s been observing the whole thing, and staring at Soonyoung, like he is right now), has pink. And Soonyoung’s smile makes Jeonghan smile back and say, “Thanks.”

Seungcheol looks up at the setting sun, and Jeonghan takes notice of it as well. Has he really been out this long? Jeonghan glances over at Seungcheol and they lock eyes for a moment (which means Seungcheol was already staring at him before, and the thought makes Jeonghan feel all warm), and Seungcheol clears his throat and says to his friends, “You guys can go first, I’ll catch up with you in a sec.”

His two friends ride back and Jeonghan looks over at Seungcheol. “I guess I have to go too.”

“Yeah,” Seungcheol replies. “Uh, yeah.” Jeonghan knows that he should turn around right now, but Seungcheol is still staring at him, and he finds that he doesn’t really want to leave. “You know there’s going to be a ball… At the palace in a few days.”

Jeonghan tilts his head, “Is there?” Announcements about things like that usually came out on the fifth day of the week, and only the royal family knew about the events and when they were going to take place before the formal announcements. “I mean, balls are only for the nobility, so I guess it doesn’t matter for me.”

Seungcheol looks almost surprised, “Don’t you guys have balls?” Past the trees Jeonghan hears a rustle and a crashing sound, but can’t see what it is.

“Uh… what?”

Seungcheol’s blushing really hard and stuttering now, and Jeonghan thinks that this is so much more fun. “I mean, I phrased that badly. Nevermind.”

Jeonghan laughs, and he can feel Seungcheol’s eyes on him.

“Yeah, well, um…” Seungcheol is still blushing but his eyes are bright, and he looks like he wants to say more, but instead he says, “Yeah. I should get going.”

Jeonghan wants to ask him what he was about to say, but instead, just nods.

“Will you be around here often?” Seungcheol asks.

Jeonghan doesn’t have to bite his lip to keep himself from smiling, “Yeah.”

Seungcheol lips form into that happy curve, even more beautiful in the golden sunset, and rides back to find his friends. Jeonghan doesn’t miss his eyes when Seungcheol turns back to look at him once more, and Jeonghan finds himself smiling the entire ride home.


	2. Nothing Seems to be Stopping

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took a lot longer than I expected, but this chapter is a lot longer than I expected. In fact, more was supposed to happen, but it just ended up being so. long. So.  
> And there isn't even a lot of Jeongcheol moments in this chapter but...  
> Here it is!!!!!  
> I think this whole thing is going to be 5 chapters, including, maybe, possibly a.......... Soonhoon bonus chapter???  
> Who knows?  
> Not me.

Seungcheol watches the long-haired boy ride off and can’t help the dumb smile he  _ knows  _ is on his face. His friends can tell as much when he rides past the trees to find them. 

Anywhere else they would’ve been seen as “The Prince, The Captain, and The Servant,” but out here they were just, “Seungcheol, Jihoon, and Soonyoung.”

As he nears he can already see the expression on the captain's face. “What?” Seungcheol asks, as he rides towards them, because Jihoon is smirking and looking utterly amused, like he’s about to burst out laughing. One of the horse’s saddles is empty, and upon further inspection, Seungcheol notices Soonyoung is on the ground.

“Nothing,” Jihoon replies innocently, “Just that the woods aren’t as shrouded as you think, and we could hear every word of your conversation.”

Seungcheol groans, hiding his face in his hands because he knows he’s blushing. His conversation with the boy wasn’t one he was especially proud of, like he was proud of conversations with aristocrats he was forced to engage in to please his father. At least in those conversations he wasn’t a stuttering mess and had control over his words. _Stay calm, think about pace,_ _and maintain eye contact_ his father had taught him.

_ Yeah, well it's not so easy when the other person's eyes are shining and pure like a literal angel _ .

Even now, Seungcheol finds the purple-haired boy's smile burned into his mind. Facing it was like running against the wind, breathless and happy, but just as much of a struggle, and Seungcheol doesn't know why he finds it so hard to get the boy from the forest out of his mind.

When he’s done feeling embarrassed, Seungcheol peers through his fingers and asks, “And why is Soonyoung on the ground?”

“The idiot fell off his horse laughing.” Jihoon replies.

“I heard that.” Soonyoung says, finally getting back up on his horse.

“I know you did.” 

Seungcheol can’t help but notice the fondness in Jihoon's tone when he says this, and has to refrain from rolling his eyes. It’s only because Seungcheol has known Jihoon since birth, and could therefore pick apart his best friend like a small, angry strawberry cake, that he can tell.

Soonyoung scrunches his nose and Jihoon averts his gaze, because Seungcheol knows that Jihoon finds this cute. Seriously, Seungcheol doesn’t know what’s keeping him from slapping Soonyoung across the face with JIHOON LIKES YOU in screaming, capital letters. Maybe it’s the fact that right after Seungcheol had found out about this and confronted Jihoon about his feelings, Jihoon had threatened to kill him. Threat’s like that are often meaningless, but with Jihoon, it’s hard to tell.

Jihoon turns to Seungcheol now, with that teasing smile on his face, “So, was  _ that _ the beautiful stranger in the forest you were talking about?”

Seungcheol frowns over at his best friend, “How many boys in the forest do you think I meet?”

Soonyoung is laughing, and says, “Were you trying to ask him to the ball?”

Seungcheol bites his lip, “Yeah, kinda.”

Soonyoung finds this even funnier. “I can’t believe you said that. ‘Don’t you guys have balls?’”

Jihoon is laughing too, and Seungcheol thinks he might murder them both. “My brain blanked. That’s not  _ my  _ fault.” Seungcheol complains, knowing full well that it is nothing to do with him, and everything to do with the purple-haired boy's smile, that tenders his brain useless.

“Did he end up saying yes?” Soonyoung asks. Jihoon looks towards him curiously now, too.

“No. Didn’t you guys hear the conversation?”

Soonyoung’s mouth drops open in surprise, “But you’re, like, the prince.”

Seungcheol can almost  _ see _ the gears turning in Jihoon’s mind. “But you didn’t tell him that, did you? He doesn’t know you’re the prince.” Jihoon smiles proudly at his own realization, even though he already knows he is his own category of scary-smart. 

Seungcheol shrugs sheepishly, “I mean, he knows my name.”

Soonyoung cocks his head to the side, “What’s  _ his _ name?”

“I don’t actually, technically, really know…” Seungcheol replies slowly, and Soonyoung gasps dramatically. “He wouldn’t tell me?” Seungcheol says this as a way to defend himself.

Jihoon is laughing and shaking his head, and mutters, “Idiot.” Under his breath. Seungcheol makes a noise of protest, even though it’s not entirely inaccurate. 

“You know only nobility are allowed to attend balls,” Soonyoung says, “so now you have to find some way to convince your dad to invite everybody, if you want to find that purple-haired boy of yours.”

Jihoon groans, “Ugh, another stuffy ball, filled with self-entitled nobles…”

Soonyoung laughs and shakes his head. “But there’s music and dancing.”

“You like to dance?” Seungcheol looks up in surprise. 

Soonyoung just shrugs, “Yeah.”

In the years Seungcheol has known Soonyoung, the topic of music never arose. He knows Jihoon likes to compose, and… Soonyoung likes to dance? What a match.

When Soonyoung's turns to look at the path ahead of them, Seungcheol takes the chance to make furious eye contact with Jihoon and mouth _ , Ask him to the ball! _

The captain only glares at Seungcheol, and says out loud, “Well, I guess it's gonna be different this year, if it's not only the nobility.”

Soonyoung smiles humorously. “Yeah, if S. Coups here can convince his father to throw the palace doors open.”

“Shut up,  _ Hoshi _ .” Seungcheol scoffs at the use of his childhood nickname. “It sounds cool and I was eight when I made it. What’s your excuse?”

Soonyoung laughs, “I admit, maybe mine is not as good as  _ Woozi _ .”

Jihoon expertly masks his blush under a scowl. “I agree with Coups. Shut up, Hoshi.”

They make their way back to the palace, Soonyoung and Jihoon bickering at the front, and Seungcheol following with a small smile on his face, and he finds himself thinking about the angelic boy from the forest. “Seungcheol.” Soonyoung says, snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Hm? What?”

Jihoon is rolling his eyes, and Soonyoung is trying, and failing, to hide a laugh. “I asked you what you were going to tell your father.”

Seungcheol groans and even though he knows the answer, asks, “What about my father?”

“Well, I mean, you’re going to be married in a week if you don’t say  _ something  _ to him.”

Seungcheol groans again, and finds that hearing this now makes him even more annoyed. It was something he had always accepted- the arranged marriage. At least, he did  _ before _ .  _ Before _ , when he felt as if there was no use in kindling his own flame if a fireplace had already been laid out for him.

And then Seungcheol meets an angelic boy from the forest, and that's all it takes for him to feel a spark. It's unreasonable, Seungcheol knows, because he's only seen the other boy twice. It's strange how he has to keep reminding that to himself.

Seungcheol knows it's no use because this marriage is written in stone; flames in glass. Every male in Seungcheol's family had married off to princesses when they came of age. Even his father met his mother through the Ring Ball, where prince's chose their brides.

It's truly unfair that this angelic boy is sent Seungcheol's way _right_ _before_ he's supposed to choose a bride. This angelic boy that is making his heart beat faster and his brain question everything he thought he was never supposed to question. It's a spark. Seungcheol is holding a match, and he has no idea how to strike it. “I don't know. What is there to say?”

“Don’t be like that.” Surprisingly, this comes Jihoon, the same Jihoon that had once (jokingly?) threatened Seungcheol into silence about certain secret feelings, not without several minatory words thrown in. “Don’t tell me you aren’t interested in that purple-haired boy. It’s never gonna happen if you have a ring on your finger, and then you’ll be miserable for the rest of your life…”

“Thanks for caring for my well being.” Seungcheol jokes dryly.

“I’m caring for  _ my  _ well being.” Jihoon bites back, seeming offended that Seungcheol might think for one second that he would be  _ compassionate  _ and  _ care _ . “Because we’re gonna be the ones you’re gonna turn and cry to, and I don’t have time for that.”

Seungcheol laughs. “Love you too, Jihoon.” 

He avoids meeting either Soonyoung or Jihoon's eyes. This marriage isn’t just about him, it’s about his father, his family, and the “fate of his people”. This marriage was meant to form an alliance between their small kingdom and another. “With or without love, it doesn't matter.” his father had said.

The streets are empty and few lights are still on in nearby houses as they ride through the town towards the palace. Their conversation instantly ceases, because now with prying eyes and ears, they have to put on their masks again. 

The three of them sit visibly straighter, with Seungcheol leading the way to the palace gates.

 

.   . .

 

_ By the time you get this letter, I’ll probably be visiting you the next day. I’m coming home, Hannie, for good this time! _

 

_ Jisoo. _

 

_.   . . _

 

Jeonghan pretends to wipe the window panes in his stepmother’s bedroom, but really, he’s only there because her room has the best vantage point. He peers out into the open forest, hoping to catch any sign of his best friend. The sun is still rising in the east, sending a harsh glare through the window from where Jeonghan is standing, but he still manages to spot a figure crawling towards the back of the house. Jeonghan rushes up to the attic.

“Yoon Jeonghan!” Jisoo exclaims as he barrels through the attic windows and engulfs Jeonghan into a tight hug. Jeonghan is knocked back onto the floor, but he can’t remember feeling ever so happy in a long time.

“Joshua Hong! You’re back! Finally!” Ever since they were eight, Jisoo would always travel far away, from Korea to America and back again, and the sight of his best friend after months never failed to bring happiness into Jeonghan’s miserable life. “You’re never allowed to leave me ever again.”

“I’m not going to.” Jisoo replies, eyes shining. 

“What happened?” Jeonghan demands, afraid the contents of the letter were some sort of trick. “What do you mean you get to stay? How come you get to stay?”

Jisoo rolls his eyes. “At least act a little more excited.” He jokes. Jeonghan punches him lightly on the arm. “My dad got hired by a printer at the heart of the kingdom. I’m staying for good!”

“I can’t believe I have to deal with your presence for the rest of my life.” Jeonghan complains, pulling his best friend into another hug. He imagines being able to not have to painstakingly savor all his interactions with Jisoo. His brain is already doing that thing again: keeping track of how long Jisoo has already been in Korea, trying to find how many days he has left with his best friend. But Jeonghan reminds himself he no longer has to and he's happy all over again.

“The rest of  _ my  _ life is going to be considerably worse now.” Jisoo replies, and they’re both laughing.

After Jeonghan finishes dusting the entire house, the sun is still high and so are his spirits. He and Jisoo take the horses and ride into the town. “I’m so happy right now.” Jeonghan says. “I want to be far, far away from home.” 

Jisoo laughs, “I can't believe your stepmother believed you were going out to 'walk the horses’.”

“I mean they  _ are  _ getting exercise.”

“They're not dogs!”

Jeonghan ignores this. “Did you go to town yet? Did you eat?”

“I only got here like an hour ago!”

Jeonghan rolls his eyes and urges his horse ahead, forcing Jisoo to follow. “Come on, there’s so much I have to tell you.”

Jisoo urges his horse past Jeonghan’s, and soon they’re racing towards town.

It feels good this time, to be riding at full speed because it makes him laugh, and not because he wants to dry off unwanted tears. Lately, he's found that going out riding, regardless of the vexatious horse he was on, makes him happy. It may or may not have something to do with the fact that he's always watching out for Seungcheol now, hoping, even though he shouldn't, that the universe might keep the other boy in his life.

“Candy or cake?” Jisoo asks, when they arrive at the fist vendor located at the very borders of town. Neither option is fit for a meal, but Jeonghan chooses cake.

They tie their horses to trees a couple feet away from the first buildings of town, and give them each an apple. Jisoo’s horse throws a fit when he leaves, but Jeonghan’s couldn’t look happier. Jeonghan only glares at his own horse and throws her one last apple slice before following Jisoo into the crowd.

“So you know that boy I met in the forest, that I wrote to you about, like, a year ago?” Jeonghan says, as he follows Jisoo deeper into town, where there are more people shouting and vendors inviting them towards their carts.

“Pound cake it is.” Jisoo replies, as an elderly woman hands out thin slices of pound cake to villagers passing by. Jeonghan takes one and stuffs the whole thing into his mouth, while Jisoo rips off tiny crumbs and places them slowly onto his tongue.

“Too sweet.” Jisoo whispers to him, so that the lady who made the pound cake couldn’t hear.

“Not sweet enough.” Jeonghan replies. Jisoo hands the woman a couple coins for a loaf of the cake, and Jeonghan continues with what he was saying. “So I told you his name is Seungcheol.”

Jisoo nods and has a teasing smile on his face, “Oh, the really nice, handsome guy you were ranting about over paper a while back? The one with dimples?” Jeonghan blushes. He didn’t remember writing about Seungcheol in  _ that  _ much detail. Jisoo has the memory of a rock, if rocks had memories smoothed over thousands of years. “Yeah, that rings a bell.”

“Shut up. I didn’t say all that, did I?”

Jisoo shakes his head, amused. “Half of that letter was about the guy’s smile.”

“Well  _ anyways _ , I saw him again a couple days ago.” Jeonghan isn’t even aware of the way his lips turn up happily when he starts talking about Seungcheol, but it doesn’t go unnoticed by Jisoo.

“Oh my god, you’re smiling!” Jisoo says.

“What?”

“You did that thing people do when they’re happy!”

“Well, I mean…” Jeonghan says, ready to protest.

Jisoo has the widest smile Jeonghan has ever seen on his face, “Oh my god, you have a crush?” He exclaims, but the last word goes up like a question.

“Jisoo, Seungcheol’s a  _ guy _ .”  _ I’m not gay _ , is what Jeonghan was supposed to say. It's what his stepmother taught him to say. He's not so sure of it now, and the words get caught in his throat. Jeonghan can't believe that it might be  _ Seungcheol's _ doing, that the other boy's kind eyes and dimpled smile is what's preventing the words from being said out loud. And it's not like he  _ likes  _ Seungcheol, not  _ exactly _ , so why can't he just sent it?

“So?” Jisoo asks.

_ So.  _ “It’s… I mean… isn't it bad enough that my stepmother and stepsisters call me gay? Am I actually?”

“Hannie,” Jisoo gives him a pointed look. “Is your ‘family’ really the best people for you to be taking advice from?”

_ Damn _ , Jisoo makes a really good point. It was the point Jeonghan was looking for. “Do you think I’m gay?” He asks curiously.

Jisoo bursts out laughing. “Why does my opinion matter? It’s who  _ you  _ like. It doesn’t even matter if it’s a boy or girl, just if you like the person.”

Jeonghan takes a deep breath, “I don’t know if I like,  _ like  _ Seungcheol…” Definitely, absolutely, certainly  _ not  _ a lie.

“ _ Really _ ?” Jisoo asks, a judging brow raised. “ _ ‘You should’ve seen his smile, did I tell you he has dimples?’ _ ” Jisoo mocks what Jeonghan had written in the letter a year ago.

“I’m going to take all the letters I’ve ever written you and burn them.” Jeonghan threatens.

Jisoo laughs. “The point is, it’s pretty obvious you like this Seungcheol guy. Does it really matter that he’s a  _ he _ ?”

Jeonghan opens his mouth, _No_. He closes it. _Yes._ He opens his mouth again, “When did you become so insightful? What did America do to you?”

“Um, I've  _ always _ been wisdom-filled.”

Jeonghan rolls his eyes. “How can anyone deny that?” They continue walking together and Jeonghan stops to buy a couple apples for later, and certainly  _ not  _ to give to his ungrateful horse. “I just… I’ve never really felt this way about anyone before? And the first time someone’s made me like, you know, I guess happy? Outside of my friends is this guy I meet in the forest. And Seungcheol is super nice and kind, and you should see him because he’s also so handsome too, like…” He trails off when he notices Jisoo staring at something behind him. 

“Hm? Oh yeah, sorry-” Jisoo is cut off when a loud trumpet sound cuts through the air. The sun is a bit past its highest point, and Jeonghan had completely forgotten it was already the fifth day of the week.

“HEAR YE, HEAR YE!” A man with an atrocious white wig is sitting on a horse atop of a bridge overlooking the small bustling town. All heads turn towards the Announcer to listen to whatever news it was he had brought from the palace. Last week Jeonghan had been in town, the only news was that the royal family had decided on what color they would be choosing for their drapes, but the week before that it was announced that the shipment of sugar had been intercepted and there wouldn’t be any sweets coming in for at most a 3 days. Every fifth day of the week, the Announcer brings vastly different topics, and even vendors cease their sales for a short period of time to hear the news. The Announcer dramatically clears his throat. “IT IS AT THIS TIME, FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS, FOR THE KING TO HOST THE RING BALL.” The crowd starts murmuring and the man doesn’t continue until it is quiet again. “WHEREUPON THE PRINCE SHALL CHOOSE HIS BRIDE.” Oh, that. 

“How romantic,” Jeonghan whispers sarcastically over to Jisoo. “It’s like picking a pet, but instead you’re picking your future wife.”

“Uh, huh…” Jisoo replies, still staring intently at something past Jeonghan.

“You know,” Jeonghan says slowly, “When one is talking, it is common courtesy for the other to pay attention to the speaker.” A bit contradictory, considering Jeonghan wasn't paying attention to the Announcer, and instead trying to get Jisoo's attention.

“Don’t look behind you…” Jisoo says, ignoring Jeonghan’s comment. “But there’s a guy that’s been staring at you for the past ten minutes, and he hasn’t stopped.”

Jeonghan frowns and turns around, completely against Jisoo’s wishes, to see what he was talking about. 

At first it seems like such a large crowd, and Jeonghan wants to tell Jisoo to be more specific.  _ Where? _ But that isn't necessary, because then he meets a beautiful pair of brown eyes with his own. 

The boy notices Jeonghan looking back and smiles, dimples and all. 

_ Damnit _ . Jisoo is right. Jeonghan stares back at Seungcheol, and there’s something strange about how even though Jisoo's words had been vague and the town's crowd has exceeded the carrying capacity, Jeonghan finds Seungcheol amongst it easily, like a lock snapping into place.

The announcer clears his throat after some time, calling back everyone’s attention. “IT IS BY REQUEST OF OUR MOST NOBLE PRINCE, THAT ALL CITIZENS, WHETHER NOBLE OR COMMONER, BE INVITED TO THE BALL.” The crowd  _ erupts _ , and everyone is talking.

_ Huh,  _ Jeonghan thinks,  _ Seungcheol is right.  _ Apparently there  _ is  _ going to be a ball.

Even Jisoo tugs on his arm and says, “Oh my god, Hannie, did you hear that?” 

No one masks their surprise. Announcements of balls were often overlooked, as a majority of townspeople were not wealthy or prestigious enough to attend. And now, for probably the first time ever, the palace is throwing their doors open for everyone, regardless of social status. Jeonghan  _ can _ wait to relay this news to his stepmother and stepsisters. They'd be ecstatic, and it'd be horrible for him because he'd be the one they'd turn to for all the preparation. The thought of having to help his sister prepare for the ball, which they will most certainly want to attend, fills him with dread. But the ball itself… “Do you want to go?” Jisoo asks.

Jeonghan laughs, “Are you asking me out?”

Jisoo's expression twists in disgust. “Gross, no. Besides, Seungcheol might be there.” Jisoo finishes with a teasing grin.

_ As if I hadn’t already considered that _ . And Jeonghan did- it was the first thought that had come to his mind, even before the dreaded thought of having to tell his stepsisters of the news. He didn’t know if the fact that Seungcheol was going to be at the ball made him even more interested in attending, or not go at all. He really wanted to see Seungcheol again, regardless of whether it was a good or bad idea, and that's all Jeonghan has the brain capacity to know. “Yeah, um, you know the guy you said was staring at me?”

Jisoo frowns. “Yeah, it’s kinda creepy. I mean, he looks like he’s in love with you or something, which is super weird…”

“That’s Seungcheol.”

Jisoo’s eyes widen. “Wait, are you serious?  _ That’s  _ him?” Jisoo overtly gapes with his mouth wide open. “He’s so hot!”

Jeonghan blushes.  _ I know.  _ “I know, it’s so annoying.”

“He’s still staring at you. Aw, it’s like he has hearts in his eyes, this is too cute.”

Jeonghan is chewing on his bottom lip. “Don’t stare at him, oh my god, don’t wave…” Too late. “Jisoo, I swear I’ll kill you.”

Jeonghan hears footsteps coming up from behind him and turns to see Seungcheol standing right before him. For some annoying reason, Seungcheol was even more handsome up close, and it’s like every time Jeonghan sees him he seems to forget just how pretty Seungcheol’s eyes are, or the way his lips are just naturally gorgeous and upturned, and Jeonghan feels like he is riding against the wind again, alive and breathless. He smiles a little even though he can feel his heart furiously hammering inside his chest. “Hey.” Jeonghan says, as if he were greeting an old friend, which Seungcheol most definitely is not. The other boy isn't even really a  _ new _ friend. Seungcheol’s in that peculiar gray area where Jeonghan can't identify him as a friend or stranger, because Seungcheol is neither of those, but also in possession of this ability to make Jeonghan smile and his heart race when they’re together, and that isn't helping Jeonghan categorize him into any title.

“Hi, Angel.” Seungcheol says with a teasing grin.

Jeonghan groans, “That’s horrible.”

Seungcheol shrugs, nonchalant. “I think it's a suitable nickname. I told you before that you look like one.”

“Like, a year ago.” Jeonghan rolls his eyes, even though the name surprises him with a wave of pleasant recollection. He suddenly remembers that Jisoo is beside him, and completely at fault for this sudden interaction. Jeonghan doesn't know whether to punch his best friend, or thank him. “Uh, this is Jisoo, by the way.” Jeonghan says to Seungcheol.

“Hi,” Jisoo greets, “Je-”  _ onghan told me a lot about you. _

“No I didn’t.” Jeonghan interrupts, before Jisoo can say what Jeonghan already knows he was going to say, and to prevent Seungcheol from figuring out his name, because, and for good reason at the time, Jeonghan never told him.

“Hi Jisoo.” Seungcheol turns towards him. “What were you about to say? Was it his name by any chance?” Seungcheol asks, motioning towards Jeonghan.

Jisoo has a confused expression on his face, and Jeonghan laughs. “You’re not going to get it that easily.”

Seungcheol pouts.

Jeonghan just shrugs and pretends like that pout isn’t the root cause of him currently questioning his sexuality. “Nice try, though.” Seungcheol smiles proudly, and those dimples are  _ definitely _ the reason Jeonghan is having a crisis. Then Jeonghan turns to Jisoo and says, “Also, you’re not allowed to tell him.”

Jisoo still looks confused, but Seungcheol glances curiously towards him. “ _ Do _ you know his name?”

Jisoo nods slowly, still trying to process the fact that, yeah, Jeonghan apparently never told Seungcheol his name. “Yeah…”

“Oh, um, are you guys… dating?” Seungcheol asks, and Jeonghan notices he almost looks… disappointed? But he doesn't look disgusted. Seungcheol says this as if it were completely ordinary for him to come across two boys romantically involved, which means Seungcheol  _ might _ be gay himself, which makes it both easier and harder for Jeonghan to admit he  _ might also _ be into guys, specifically Seungcheol.

And, for clarification, specifically  _ not _ Jisoo, which was what Seungcheol had asked. Jeonghan nearly chokes. “Dating? Who,  _ him _ ?” He repeats, pointing to Jisoo, who was standing beside him, vehemently shaking his head. “Ew, no. He’s my best friend.”

And then for emphasis, Jisoo adds, “And even if I were gay, I would rather date his horse than him.”

Jeonghan frowns at that, causing Seungcheol to laugh. “So you’re single?” He asks Jeonghan, almost hopefully.

Jeonghan sputters, surprised at how upfront Seungcheol was, and mostly to conceal how flustered he really feels. “Why does it matter to you?”

Seungcheol blushes, as if he’d just realized what he had just asked.

“Wait wait wait.” Jisoo cuts in, and the only moment of clarity Jeonghan's unfortunate best friend has had so far is that he’s  _ not  _ dating Jeonghan. Everything else, Jeonghan can tell, he hasn't really sorted out. “You,” Jisoo says, pointing towards Seungcheol, “Don’t know his name. And you,” Jisoo points towards Jeonghan, “Didn’t tell him your name?”

Seungcheol, for some reason, laughs. “Is this a thing you do with all people you first meet?” Honestly, Jeonghan can no longer craft a viable excuse as to why he finds himself so reluctant to reveal his name to Seungcheol. Maybe some part of him still thinks this is all too good, and that putting a name on it- his name in it- will cause everything to slip away, like sand in an hourglass. And some other part of him, albeit not the most pure, craves for Seungcheol's curiosity, the pout on his lips when not given a definitive answer.

Jeonghan winks, “Only you.” Even though he feels like he can barely function properly around Seungcheol, he can’t help the teasing remarks that come out of his mouth, especially when it causes the other boy to turn such a cute shade of pink. It's this that encourages Jeonghan's sudden surges of confidence, and he thinks that only Seungcheol has the ability to turn and force Jeonghan to face the growing problem that is his own sexuality. Jeonghan pokes at the problem, entertains it, flirts with it- with Seungcheol.

It’s all good until Jisoo has to open his mouth again. “He told you his name and you didn’t tell him yours? You didn’t include that part in the letter...”

Seungcheol suddenly perks up, and turns to Jisoo. “What letter?”

Jisoo has a delighted smile on his face as he replies, “Jeonghan wrote an entire letter to me about you. The whole thing was about how handsome and ni-” He’s cut off when Jeonghan slaps a hand across his best friend’s mouth, but it's like Pandora closing the box right after she opened it, right  _ after _ all the bad stuff came out.

“That is  _ not  _ true. Don’t listen to him.” Jeonghan tightens his grip on Jisoo. “Jisoo used to study in America, so I wrote to him about stuff, which, among a lot of other things, included, like,  _ one _ letter about when we first met. That’s all.” He finishes hastily, and not very persuasively.

Seungcheol's eyes are shining with amusement, but they don't match the gentle blush on his face. “You think I’m handsome?”

“No.” Jeonghan replies, a little too quickly.  _ Great, how do I fix this? _ “I think you're hideous,”  _ Perfect _ . “and I can't stand looking at your face for too long.” This last statement wasn’t actually that far from the truth. Jeonghan really  _ can’t _ afford to look at Seungcheol for too long, because the other boy is actually  _ really _ handsome, and if he stares any longer he won’t be able to tear his eyes away from Seungcheol’s beautiful, curved lips, which are  _ really  _ red, and… yeah, that’s why. 

Jeonghan is  _ really _ screwed over.

Seungcheol places a hand dramatically over his chest. “My poor heart.”

Jeonghan lets a laugh escape his lips and doesn’t notice Seungcheol staring. But Jisoo does. “So, Seungcheol,” Jisoo says, having finally broken out of Jeonghan’s grasp, “Are you attending the Ring ball they just announced?”

“Oh, yeah, the ball.” Seungcheol bites his lip and turns towards Jeonghan. “That’s what I was going to ask you about… the other day. Um, I… Are you going to the ball? Would you like to go with me? Like, do you want to go to the ball with me?” Seungcheol says this quickly and  _ almost  _ confidently, but he's also stuttering a little, and his face is as pink as Jeonghan's.

Jeonghan can’t help the way his face suddenly heats up, and it's like he is physically incapable of  _ not _ smiling, and there are  _ so  _ many things that could go wrong with that idea, but… Seungcheol had asked. Seungcheol asked Jeonghan out to the ball, and Jeonghan thinks that the way Seungcheol is looking at him right now is  _ so _ unfair, because there is no way he can get himself out of this one, even if he wanted to. 

Jeonghan opens his mouth to reply, when suddenly he is pushed aside. Palace guards make their way through the crowd, and it is less like “making” their way, and more like destroying everything in their path, with little regard to the people they were shoving aside. “Has anyone seen the prince?” One of the taller guards demands.

Seungcheol’s eyes widen in fear. “I have to go.” He says, very rushed and panicked. He turns to Jisoo and waves, “It was nice meeting you.” Then he maneuvers to face Jeonghan, where his gaze lingers a little longer. “Um, sorry, that was dumb- No it wasn’t. But, you didn’t have to answer. Uh… bye.” Seungcheol looks charged and ready to bolt, but right before he leaves, turns again to say, “I still hope to see you there, and... to know your answer.” And then Seungcheol disappears into the crowd.

Jeonghan frowns after him in confusion. “I would’ve said yes.”

Jisoo slaps him non-too-gently on the shoulder. “Why are you telling  _ me  _ that? Go tell him!”

But Seungcheol’s already dissolved into the crowd and Jeonghan can’t help but feel disappointed. Jeonghan sighs and says to Jisoo, “He’s kinda strange, but it’s like, really hot.” 

Jisoo bursts out laughing, “Oh my god, Hannie, you are so gone.”

Jisoo makes his way into the crowd with Jeonghan following and asking, “What does that mean?”

“It means we have to get you ready for the ball.”

.   . .

 

“You dispatched the guards without my command?” Jihoon pins down the second in command, an older, pruny man named Jaegeun, with a furious glare.

“It’s what the king would’ve wanted if his son had suddenly gone missing.” Jaegeun replies calmly.

“You still did it behind my back without orders.” Jihoon groans in frustration.  _ And the prince did  _ not  _ go missing, he just left for a while to flirt with that purple-haired boy.  _ Jihoon directs his glare at Seungcheol, whom the guards had left without permission to search for, and whom Jihoon had promised to cover for.

Seungcheol mouths a  _ thank you  _ to the captain, because if anyone found out where he really was, well, a small part of him hoped they would, but the other part of him hadn’t yet found a way out of the marriage his father is forcing him into. 

With the ball so close, Seungcheol isn’t allowed to be anywhere by himself, or even  _ talk  _ to anyone without guards listening in on his every word.

Seungcheol had tried to wiggle himself out of the marriage the last time he talked to his father, starting off with the fact that he was actually  _ interested  _ in someone. “It isn’t just  _ some  _ pretty boy, appa…” He had said.

“He is, in fact. Is he royal? No? Then it doesn’t matter. He’s a nobody.” His father replied.

Seungcheol had asked for Soonyoung’s support on this matter (“Please? All I need is your presence.”), and so Soonyoung had dressed in a blue jumpsuit and low cap and was dusting the lights in the dining hall where he and his father were talking, but Seungcheol knew Soonyoung was listening to every word they were saying. He could almost  _ feel  _ Soonyoung vibrating with anger. Anger at his father, anger on his behalf.

Seungcheol used to think that whatever anger he had was burned out long ago, but felt it rise again at this moment, matching Soonyoung’s. Of the three of them, Soonyoung probably felt emotions the strongest, and Seungcheol hadn’t understood how someone could feel something so  _ deeply _ . Later, he learned that perhaps Jihoon’s intensity matched this, and that Jihoon had just learned to hide his feelings better behind stone cold armor. Seungcheol was never given an option to display his emotions. In his very early years, he wasn't even sure he  _ had  _ any- that the chemicals needed for love just didn't run in the family. But maybe that stuff doesn't come from him. It was as if a fire had been ignited in him, the first time he met the boy from the forest, the first time he heard the purple-haired boy laugh, the first time  _ Seungcheol _ was the one blushing. His entire body felt warm, and he thought  _ Oh, this is how it feels _ . He'd been with girls before, romantically at that. Girls that turned red when he acknowledged them, blushed when he talked, but he never understood it. It was hard for him to understand any of it, at least, before the boy from the forest. It feels like a growing flame inside him.

He had to force it down and force himself to finish that meal in silence.

“Why didn’t you say anything else?” Soonyoung had demanded, after he changed out of his disguise and was alone with Seungcheol.

“What was I supposed to say? It’s not… you don’t understand. I didn’t  _ ask  _ to be born into royalty.”

Soonyoung was quiet for a moment. “It can’t be all that bad.” 

Seungcheol mentally cursed. Of course it wasn’t bad, not even near a hundredth as bad as what Soonyoung had to suffer through. His parents had sold him as a servant to the palace when he was just a kid. Seungcheol opened his mouth to apologize, but Soonyoung beat him to it. “I’m sorry, Cheol. I didn’t mean it.”

“No, you’re right. I have everything I want, and this marriage… It’s the one thing in my life that’s not for me, it’s for the people.”

Soonyoung sighed and fiddled with the rag that was always on his shoulder. “That’s not what I meant. It’s just that, most of us… If you’re like me, you don’t even get a shot at love. I’m going to be working my whole life. Who would want a servant?”

“Jihoon’s in love with you.” Seungcheol blurted, but then immediately regretted it and wished to smack himself. It was the only thing he could think of.  _ How could you think that when Jihoon so clearly wants you? _

Soonyoung had immediately looked down, but couldn't hide the blush spreading across his cheeks.  _ Oh, Seungcheol is  _ so  _ dead right now. Jihoon can never find out about this. _

Soonyoung bit his lip and took a breath. His mouth was open, and Seungcheol felt nervous for whatever came next. “I know.” Soonyoung replied.

Seungcheol’s mind blanked. “Oh.”  _ Fuck.  _ “Oh, cool. Good.”

Soonyoung observed Seungcheol’s reaction for a few moments longer, then stated, “I’m changing the subject now.”

“You know, Hoshi,” Seungcheol said, using Soonyoung’s childhood nickname, “It doesn’t matter what your status is. You deserve to be loved, and be in love.”

Soonyoung smiled and shook his head. “It’s not just about me. I can’t have everything, S. Coups.” Soonyoung breaks off into a fit of giggles at Seungcheol’s nickname. Give it to Soonyoung to find something to laugh about in a supposedly deep and emotional conversation. Seungcheol rolled his eyes, it wasn’t  _ that  _ dumb. Soonyoung took a breath, as if he were preparing for a speech. “But you  _ can  _ have everything, Cheol. You  _ deserve  _ everything, so it just hurts when you won’t fight for it.”

It was that conversation that had encouraged Seungcheol to approach his father one more time. “Appa, I'm not asking that you cancel the ball and the marriage, but this year… let's make it about the people.”

Jaegeun, grossly loyal to his father and always following his footsteps, had laughed out loud. “What are you suggesting? Inviting commoners? To the palace?”

The king frowned and turned to look at Seungcheol. Seungcheol already knew that his father had figured out his intentions with this all along, but the king had no proof and could make no such accusation. “You better not be doing this because of that boy from the forest you talk so much about.”

“I'm going to be married, father.” Seungcheol didn't miss his chance to throw a bit of venom in there. “One night for the people. The marriage is  _ for  _ the people, isn't it?” 

Seungcheol tried his best to mask his surprise when his father had actually  _ agreed _ .

It was Soonyoung that had encouraged Seungcheol to sneak away for the briefest of moments, while he was out in town riding with the guards, to seek out the purple haired boy.

It may have left an exasperated Jihoon to cover his ass, but it resulted in a happy Seungcheol. 

He thinks that probably now, he should interfere with the captain arguing with his second in command. “I am fine, as you can see.” Seungcheol cuts in. “Next time, you do not take orders without consulting the captain, Jaegeun.”

Jaegeun sneers. “He is no captain of mine. Just wait until your father hears about your little escapade. I don’t know why the king let his queer little son appoint the head of the royal guard.”

Seungcheol turns pale. His father  _ can’t  _ know about his interaction with the purple-haired boy, not from Jaegeun, and not  _ now _ , with the Ring ball so close.

“You can’t threaten your prince.” A voice suddenly says, and all heads turn towards Soonyoung. Even the other guards, who had their eyes fixed on the cobblestone pavement, trying to pretend like they had nothing to do with the argument, turn their heads to look towards the servant who had dared raise his voice.

“And  _ you  _ can’t talk to me. Who do you think you are?”Jaegeun spits. “You’re only here with us because the captain and prince have some kind of attachment to you. I hope you know that just because the captain has a little crush on you, you still have no status or worth to be raising your voice.” 

“Jaegeun, stop.” Jihoon’s voice is stone cold, in the way it gets that makes even  _ Seungcheol _ intimidated, and it is directed at the second in command. “You do  _ not  _ speak to Soonyoung like that.” 

Jaegeun curls his lips. “Ah, so the servant has a name.” He no longer says this boldly, but mutters it, as if afraid to speak too loud now.

Seungcheol forces himself to raise his voice. “Jaegeun.” He had planned to say more, but a mere word from the prince is enough to silence the infectious conversation. “We’re going home now.” Seungcheol says. Instead of riding at the front like he always does, he directs his horse to the back, beside Soonyoung. Seungcheol gives Jihoon a little nod, and the captain leads the way towards the palace.

“Was it worth it?” Soonyoung asks, now grinning as if the whole thing with Jaegeun hadn't just happened.

Seungcheol feels Soonyoung’s radiant grin spread to his own face. He sighs and looks up at the sky. “So worth it. I almost did it.”

Soonyoung widens his eyes in excitement. “You asked the purple haired boy out to the ball?”

“Almost.” He turns his head to look at Soonyoung, but Soonyoung’s gaze seems to be focused on something else, farther ahead. “Thanks for speaking up for me.” Seungcheol says.

Soonyoung shrugs. “I really should be thanking you guys. I was so scared Jaegeun was going to do something dumb…”

Seungcheol smiles and shakes his head. “He wouldn’t have. And it was mostly Jihoon. I can make Jaegeun shut up, but… I think the only person Jaegeun is afraid of is Jihoon.”

Soonyoung laughs. “A reasonable fear.”

“Jaegeun’s a jerk, he makes so many gay jokes that it makes you wonder if  _ he’s  _ into guys.”

Soonyoung quirks his eyebrows. “Do you think what Jaegeun says is true?”

“About what?”

“About… everything.”

“Well I  _ am  _ actually queer and into guys. And Jihoon and I both  _ love _ you.” Seungcheol makes the last one a teasing statement even though it’s true.  _ But I don’t love you the way Jihoon loves you, just so we’re clear. _

Soonyoung laughs and makes a heart with his hands. “Me too.”

 

.   . .

 

It’s been four days since the announcement of the ball, and Jeonghan is in town again to pick up his stepsister’s dresses from the seamstress. Jisoo had somehow caught Jeonghan on his way out, and followed him all the way there. Now they’re here, in a cramped fabric shop, and Jeonghan really needs to tape his best friend’s mouth shut.

“Uh, no. Ha, no. No no no no no.” Jeonghan shakes his head. “I am  _ not _ going to the ball.” 

Jisoo has his mouth open, offended. “But Seungcheol asked you!” Jisoo looks hurt as if  _ he  _ were the one being rejected.

“I didn’t say yes…” Jeonghan mutters half heartedly, even though he really did want to.

“You were about to.” Jisoo bites back.

“My stepmother’s going to kill me. There’s so much work to do at home, and where will I find money to get a suit? And in three days?”

Jisoo rolls his eyes. “You must have  _ something _ .”

_ My father’s… _ Jeonghan thinks. He bites his lip. To tell Jisoo this would initiate his plan, which was  _ not  _ a good plan at all, in fact. “Yeah, I have my father’s suite.” Jeonghan says.  _ Too late to go back now.  _ “I mean, what’s the point? We can’t even be seen together.”

Jisoo smacks him on the head with a coat hanger. “What does that mean?”

“I mean… He’s an apprentice at the  _ palace _ . I’m… I’m a peasant.” Jeonghan laughs a little. “ _ And  _ a guy.”

Jisoo shrugs. “It doesn’t seem like Seungcheol cares.”

Jeonghan bites his lip. “I don’t know.”

Jisoo coughs and cuts in. “You know he knows you’re a dude, and he still flirts with you.”

“Yeah I know, but…”

“Hold up, so you admit Seungcheol was flirting with you? And you were flirting back?” Jisoo interrupts with a cheeky smile. Jeonghan doesn't reply, which is an answer in and of itself. “Of course. But what? What is there to but about?”

“I have long hair.” Jeonghan finally replies.

Jisoo lets out a breath. “Oh, fuck you.”

Jeonghan glares at him. “Hey, language.”

“Oh my god…” Jisoo groans, “Okay, then let’s cut your hair.”

Jeonghan smiles, and finds that the suggestion doesn’t scare him at all. He’s been waiting for a change, and had secretly hoped someone would finally tell him to. Someone that was not his stepmother screaming  _ You’re a sad excuse of a person with that hair _ . “Okay.” He says easily.

“Wait I didn’t mean it!” Jisoo’s eyes go wide. “You don’t have to cut your hair to please some guy…” 

“You suggested it. And besides, I kinda want to… Just to see, you know?”

Jisoo frowns. “Seungcheol won’t just suddenly  _ not  _ like you because you have short hair.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” Jeonghan shrugs. “But I wanna do it. I wanna cut my hair.”

Jisoo has a pained expression on his face, but Jeonghan looks up to him with wide eyes and a pout. Jisoo scrunches up his face in disdain at the thought of Jeonghan cutting all that hair off, but he, of all people, knows how spontaneous yet  _ stubborn  _ Jeonghan is. “Okay,” Jisoo sighs, “I know a guy… well, girl. She can help, I guess.” 

They head out of the tiny shop, both of them hauling a huge dress for each of his stepsisters. Jeonghan wonders if Jisoo’s muscles are aching as much as his own, but seeing that Jisoo has no plans to slow down, Jeongan hurries to catch up, even with the substantial dress in his hands.

“But-” Jisoo abruptly stops in front of a building, and Jeonghan runs into him. They both fall against a door, which then opens so that they’re both tumbling to the ground.

A boy, around their age, peers down at the two fallen bodies at his doorstep. “Josh?” He- wait no  _ she  _ says. Jeonghan realizes that even though the girl has short hair, her features and voice are still feminine.

“Amber!” Jisoo says. “I need a favor.” 

Amber rolls her eyes. “Of course you do.”

Jisoo sighs and turns to look longingly at Jeonghan’s hair. “I can’t bear to say it. Tell her yourself.” Then he shoves Jeonghan forward.

Jeonghan rolls his eyes at how dramatic Jisoo is being, then turns back to the girl, Amber. “I, uh, wanna cut my hair.”

Amber runs her eyes over Jeonghan, but, strangely, not in a way that makes him feel judged- it was more like being assessed. “Sure.” She says simply, and in english. Jeonghan notices that she doesn’t have an accent when she says this, so she must be fluent.

“Uh,” Jeonghan says, a little stunned by how fast things were going, because he was actually going to cut all his hair off. His brain hadn’t yet come to terms with the fact that it was going to be  _ today _ , right  _ now _ . “Do you… have any experience?”

Amber scoffs. “Of course. I cut my own hair.”

Jeonghan’s eyes widen. “Wait, you do it yourself?”

Amber nods easily. “Yeah, but I think for you I might send one of my more skilled employees to cut it.”

Jisoo comes up behind them. “Why don’t you just do a trim?”

Jeonghan shakes his head. “Nope. I want it all off.” He sees Amber grinning when she hears this, just as she turns to call another employee.

Jisoo drags out a long sigh as he leads Jeonghan into the house as if it were his own. “I don’t think I can bear to watch.”

Jeonghan places himself on the chair and glances curiously towards the doorway where Amber had left. Ignoring what Jisoo said, he asks,  “How do you know her?”

“Oh, we met in America, and I found out she’s also Korean. I actually didn’t know she lived here until, like, yesterday.” Jisoo also turns to look in the direction where Amber left. “Maybe I can bribe her into not cutting off all your hair…” And with that, Jisoo wanders out of the room.

Jeonghan stays sitting at the chair in the living room, not knowing what to do, when a crash suddenly sounds behind him. “Dammit.” Someone mutters. Jeonghan rushes over to help the boy who had dropped a whole basket of supplies upon entering the living room.

They work together in silence, picking up clips and various kinds of scissors, before Jeonghan clears his throat and says, “Hi, uh… Are you the one that is going to cut my hair?”

The boy finally looks up, and says, “Yeah.” The boy is actually really hot, and if Jeonghan weren’t so gone for Seungcheol, he might’ve found the boy attractive. The boy smiles, and Jeonghan notices his two back teeth are kind of angled in a cute way. “And thanks, by the way, for helping me with this stuff.”

Jeonghan shrugs, “It’s okay. My hands also slip up a lot. I accidentally dropped the first cake Jisoo ever made, and I probably shouldn’t tell you that because Jisoo doesn’t know it was me who did it. It was vanilla, and probably tasted good and I felt really bad but I should stop talking now.” Then he pauses for a second. “My name’s Jeonghan by the way.”

“I’m Mingyu.” The other boy is smiling a lot more now, as if amused, and Jeonghan is happy he broke the ice, even though, normally, he’s not a people-person. Mingyu leads Jeonghan back to the chair. “So, how much do you want to cut?”

“Um, I was thinking, like, all of it?” Jeonghan pauses, waiting for a reaction, but Mingyu is just waiting for him to continue. “I mean, I don’t want to be bald. And maybe…” Jeonghan bites his lip, “A reddish brown color?” That last part he thought of on the spot. The purple color was already fading out of his hair, so that it was more blonde than anything.

“Okay, I can do that.” Mingyu grabs a large pair of scissors, and Jeonghan can feel his heart beating in his chest. It’s not fear, but more like anticipation. Mingyu takes out a large pair of scissors. “You ready?”

Jeonghan barely manages a smile through his apprehension. Why is he so nervous about hair? “Yeah.”

When Mingyu cuts off the first big chunk of hair, Jeonghan sees it fall to the ground, and finds that it isn't scary at all. This isn't scary.

Jeonghan accepts the change.

A little more than an hour later, before Mingyu has even put a mirror in front of Jeonghan to see the finished product, Jisoo steps into the room. His best friend’s eyes are wide open, and Jeonghan  _ really  _ wishes there was a mirror, because he can already  _ feel  _ the difference. He feels… lighter. Jisoo’s mouth opens. “Oh my god…”

The days fly by, mostly with Jeonghan doing chores and avoiding his stepmother, because lately, she’s been in a particularly good mood. In all honesty, it’s kinda freaking Jeonghan out. She didn’t even comment on his new haircut, even though she’s been pestering Jeonghan to get rid of his long hair for years. Jeonghan’s not sure how he feels about the lack of reaction, but it beats Jisoo running his hand through Jeonghan’s hair muttering “Damnit, this actually looks pretty good.” 

He even had the nerve to ask his stepmother if he could attend the ball. His stepmother had merely narrowed her eyes and replied, “If you can get all your chores done and find something suitable to wear.” That’s _ it. _ Jeonghan was stumped as to what could’ve put his stepmother in such a good mood.

He gets the answer to that the day of the ball. Apparently, his stepmother has this absurd idea that she can marry at least one of her daughters to the prince tonight. “This could pull us out of the financial depth we’ve been enslaved to since we landed in this wretched place!” His stepmother squeals with joy. Jeonghan smiles and nods at this ridiculous plan, ignoring the fact that this woman was insulting his home, as he helps his stepsisters prepare for the ball.

“Ow, you nitwit. I don’t want to be bald before I meet the prince.” Jia scowls.

Jeonghan mutters a “sorry” as he yanks the brush out of his stepsister’s hair.

Hayoon giggles from her side of the room. Their shared bedroom was so large, it allowed sound to echo off its walls. “Like that’s gonna matter, the prince won’t even look at you. Not while I’m there, at least.”

Jia gasps offendedly.

Jeonghan tries his best not to roll his eyes, but it’s clearly not working because Jia points her glare at him. “What’s wrong with  _ your  _ face.”

“Hm?” Jeonghan asks, startled that his stepsister was actually acknowledging him. “Oh nothing it’s just… why are you fighting for the attention of someone you’ve never met?”

Hayoon scoffs, “Uh, duh, he’s the prince.”

Jeonghan shrugs. “He could be a total dick and that wouldn’t matter?”

“Of course not.” His stepsisters say in unison.

Sometimes, when they say things like this, Jeonghan is appalled by how his stepsisters can be, and yet… he feels sorry for them? Of course, growing up with such a horrible mother would make anyone sorry before them. Jeonghan wonders if it's possible for his stepsisters to ever fall in love, to marry for love and not happiness, to love someone that isn't themselves.

But, of course, Jeonghan isn't in a place to judge other people's capability of love- he's only recently accepted that he might have a little more than a little crush on Seungcheol. It's not love and he's not gay, but… those things are both very possible could-be's.

His sympathy for his two stepsisters is cut short as Jia throws a pillow at his face. “Quit smiling like that, it’s getting creepy.” She snaps.

“Jeonghan, help me tighten my corset. I don’t want to be able to breathe tonight.” Hayoon demands.

Jeonghan rushes over to the opposite side of the room and doesn’t question his stepsister’s intentions.

“Doesn’t matter how tight your corset is if you’re standing next to me.” Jia sings. “The prince is sure to fall for me the second he lays eyes on  _ my  _ dress.”

Jeonghan frowns at this. “Wouldn’t that be strange? If the prince only married you because of your dress?”

Jia lets out a sharp laugh. “Boys don’t care about anything other than how you look.”

“Yeah,” Hayoon agrees, “Shouldn’t you know this? Since your a boy that’s into boys.”

Jeonghan doesn’t even deny this statement, which only encourages Jia and Hayoon's nefarious smirks. “I bet no one’s ever shown an ounce of interest in you, whether it be a girl  _ or  _ boy.” Hayoon sneers.

“What a shame, I’m sure there will be plenty of other dashing men tonight. Too bad you can’t go.” Jia giggles.

Hayoon rolls her eyes. “Would it even matter? People like you are disgusting. What kinda boy wants other boys?” Jia and Hayoon are both sprawled on their beds, laughing, even though what they said was neither funny nor clever.

Wasn't there this thing called adaptation? Jeonghan thinks that after all this time, the insults his family threw at him would no longer be so hurtful, that he'd adapt to become immune to them at some point, maybe grow a protective shield, if that was a thing. But it's not a thing, and his stepsisters still treat him like nothing, and it always hurts like something.

It hurts that the ball is tonight, and he wouldn’t be going. He  _ couldn't _ go. This was his stepmother's prevention plan all along with all these chores, and Jeonghan wasn't left with any time for himself to find at least something to wear.

It hurts even more that he won’t be able to see those beautiful brown eyes and cute dimples.

The door to the room is suddenly sprung open. “Jeonghan, dear.” His stepmother calls. Jia and Hayoon immediately stop laughing and look over curiously.

Jeonghan’s blood turns cold, the way it always does when she's around. “Yes, madame?”

“There’s a package for you.” His stepmother informs, and her eyes narrow in disdain; Jeonghan can tell she’s suspicious as to why anyone would bother sending him anything. Well, he doesn’t have the slightest idea either, so they’re stuck in the same boat on that one. “I left it upstairs in the attic for you.”

Jeonghan bows. “Thank you.” And rushes out.

“Hey! You can't leave, you’re not done helping me with my hair!” Jia shouts.

Jeonghan rolls his eyes, and wonders whether he should go up to his room now, or after he’s done helping his stepsisters. He’s about to turn back, but their mother is already gushing over them, saying things like “You girls look wonderful!” or “At least that Jeonghan is good for something.”

Jeonghan enters the attic and spots a box on his bed, neatly wrapped in silver paper. He notices there is a small card placed on top, and goes to open it.

_ Better see you there tonight. _

_ -Jisoo _

_ P.S. you’re welcome, and amber helped too I guess _

_ I DID MOST OF IT! -Amber _

Jeonghan can almost hear their voices from the words as he reads the note, and smiles, even though he doesn't know what they're saying or what they mean, then goes to open the box.

His eyes widen when he sees the white fabric neatly folded inside.

Jeonghan takes the suite out of the box, careful not to wrinkle it too much. A suite. An  _ actual _ suit. His friends had somehow found a suit for him to wear. They  _ made  _ a suite for him to wear. It was unlike anything Jeonghan had ever seen, and he finds it hard to blink.

The fabric was soft and the hem and lapels were embroidered with a thin yellow thread. There is a slight hole where one of the buttons had been, but then removed and readjusted, and Jeonghan knows that they took the time to measure out each fine detail. He wants to cry. Jeonghan feels so many  _ emotions _ , and, above it all,  _ hope _ . 

_ Thank you, guys _ .

“Jeonghan, get back here!” Jia shouts from downstairs.

Jeonghan hastily folds the suit and places it back into the box, then hides the box in his wardrobe. “Coming!” He replies, as he rushes down the staircase back into his stepsisters’ room.

“What happened to you?” Jia asks, narrowing her eyes at Jeonghan.

“What was the package?” Hayoon adds.

“Not any of your business, really- just something from my friends.” Jeonghan replies.  _ Those amazing idiots. _

Jia scoffs. “You have friends?”

Jeonghan gives her a pointed glare, but doesn’t reply.

“Now quick, get my hair braided.” Jia demands.

“No.” Hayoon cuts in. “I need you to fetch me my clips. I saved them especially for the ball tonight.”

Normally, Jeonghan would be annoyed, and grumble about all the work he's been given that his stepsisters are perfectly capable of doing themselves, but he’s too happy right now. His stepsister’s survey him skeptically, yet he can’t bring himself to care, even as he works the next 3 hours helping his stepsisters prepare for the ball.

As the sun starts to set, carriages begin pulling up. A single velvet carriage stops at their door, and waits patiently for the inhabitants get ready. Jeonghan fastens the last clip onto Hayoon’s hair, and without a  _ thank you  _ to Jeonghan, which he never even really expected, his stepsisters are bounding towards the foyer towards the window to gawk at the carriages, sent straight from the palace.

“Girls, you look gorgeous!” His stepmother gasps as she descends from the staircase, beholding her two daughters in her eyes. “I daresay, you two will outshine all the maidens tonight competing for the prince’s hand.”

Jia and Hayoon giggle, clearly pleased.

“It’s time to go.” His stepmother says, putting on a spectacular smile. “Jeonghan,” she calls, without looking back. “Don’t forget to feed the cat while we're out, and his litter box needs to be changed.”

_ Oh, right _ . His stepmother was still under the impression that Jeonghan hadn't found anything to wear, and therefore wouldn't be going. “But Madame, I… you said I could go to the ball tonight with you.” His stepmother, who had looked as if she had been smacked silly with energy, constantly jittery the entire day, goes incredibly still.

Finally, his stepmother turns around to face him, but what scares him most is that the grin is still on her face. “Did you find something suitable to wear?”

Jeonghan bites his lip. “Yeah.”

His stepmother smiles sweetly. “Go get dressed then, we’ll be down here waiting.”

As excited as Jeonghan is to go, he can’t help but feel fear and dread brewing at the pit of his stomach. Something is wrong. He rushes up to the attic and opens the wardrobe.

There he finds the white suit, ripped and cut into pieces.

Jeonghan feels his heart stop. 

_ What happened? _

“Jeonghan, are you ready yet?” His stepmother calls.

_ Of course, of course she would do this. _

Jeonghan’s vision becomes blurry, but he can’t cry. Not yet.

He brings the ripped suit down to face his stepmother. “What happened.” Jeonghan says. His voice is not at all as steady as he hoped it would be.

“Oh honey,” His stepmother’s voice drips with poison. “Is that your suit?”

His stepmother is smiling, and Jeonghan notices that her fingers are stroking a pair of metal scissors on the table next to her. “How could you?” This one comes out severed by choked tears.

“How could I not? You expect me to bring a  _ servant  _ to the ball? I can’t have people, not to mention the  _ prince _ , seeing  _ you _ with my family. How embarrassing.” She laughs. There is no remorse on his stepmother’s face.

Jeonghan didn’t know what to expect. Of course his stepmother doesn’t feel guilty, she thinks what she’s doing is right.

“Come on girls, it’s time to go to the ball.” His stepmother's dress is dramatically twirled around as she struts out of the house, daughters in tow.

He feels something inside him break, a careful vial of liquid pooling over his senses now, and he thinks that this is it. Why hope? Nothing good ever came out of that.

Jeonghan knows that after so many years of dealing with this treatment, this is how it always goes. Why can’t he  _ say  _ something, do something? Instead, he clutches the beautiful, ruined suit in his hands as he watches his stepmother and stepsisters bustle out the door.

Only when the door slams shut behind them does he feel the sting of his tears. 

He can’t think.

For so long it had always been sorrow, but this time it’s anger that drives his tears.

Jeonghan knows life isn’t fair, but… Why? Why is he treated like this? Why does he take it?

He feels suffocated in his own home.

Air.

He needs air.

Jeonghan runs out into the backyard, and doesn’t even bother closing the doors behind him.

All he knows right now is how he feels. He needs to feel the cool air on his face, and the wind in his hair. But this time, the wind cannot blow his anger away.

Almost unconsciously, he walks over to his mother’s, his  _ real  _ mother’s, rose bush. When she was alive this rose bush had thrived, and his mother would pick the flowers for Jeonghan. “See?” She would say, “Flowers bloom where there is kindness. Always believe that, Jeonghan.” 

The  memory seems too distant now.  _ That can’t be right, Mom.  _ Jeonghan thinks.  _ There are no flowers here, not anymore. I don’t think there ever will be.  _ No matter how kind he tried to be towards his stepmother and stepsisters, the roses his mother planted will never bloom again.

A single rose lay on the ground, and Jeonghan goes to pick it up, forgetting that thorns were a thing. He grips the flower tighter in his hands, and feels a thorn pierce through his skin. “Ow, fuck…” He mutters, as blood drips down his wrist.

“Jeonghan!”

The voice startles him, and he drops the flower. “What?”

“Jeonghan, you’re bleeding!” A tall figure runs over to him. Mingyu.

“Mingyu, what… what are you doing here?” Jeonghan squeezes his eyes shut, forcing the remaining tears out, and he quickly wipes them away.

Mingyu doesn’t reply, and takes Jeonghan’s hand, carefully examining it. Jeonghan is about to say something, when Mingyu suddenly takes two of his fingers and runs it over the cut. Jeonghan feels a slight coolness where the cut once was, and in the next second it’s gone, as if there never had been any pain. “There.” Mingyu says, with a satisfied smile.

“I… thank you? I mean like,” Jeonghan’s mind goes blank. Where was the wound? “What the heck?” He finally decides those are the best words for it.

Mingyu grins, but doesn’t answer Jeonghan’s question. “The ball starts soon, Jeonghan.” The tall boys says, “We better start moving. Come on.”

Jeonghan stands up, but stays firmly planted where he is, eyeing Mingyu warily. “How… how do you know where I live? How did you get in?”

Mingyu seems to think this over for a while, before shrugging and simply replying, “Magic.”

Jeonghan considers the tall boy in front of him, but aside from the twinkle in his eye, which is probably always there, Mingyu appears to be completely serious. “Magic?”

“Yeah, duh. I’m a fairy!” Mingyu claps his hands happily. Jeonghan stares blankly at him, and Mingyu rolls his eyes. “I really thought you would’ve figured this out by now.”

Jeonghan’s still a bit skeptical, even though he saw Mingyu make a wound completely disappear before his eyes, but he throws his arms up defensively at that last statement, “What- how was I supposed to know?”

“Your own mother told you about fairies, of course.”

“Those are  _ stories _ , there’s no such thing…” Jeonghan trails off as Mingyu begins to walk towards a pumpkin.

“No time to waste! We have to get you ready for the ball.” The taller boy knocks on the large pumpkin, then starts petting it. “Yes, I think you will be good.” Mingyu says to the pumpkin.

The image of such a tall man petting and talking to a pumpkin is almost comical, but Jeonghan is too weirded out by everything else to laugh.

“Did you happen to see…” Mingyu mutters, and this time Jeonghan realises that he’s talking to him and not the pumpkin. “Ah, nevermind, I remember now.” Mingyu raises his hand, and in one quick motion grabs at the air. Except it isn’t air anymore; a really fancy stick appears in his hand. A wand.

“Okay, so…” Jeonghan says slowly, “You’re a fairy.”

“Yep.” Mingyu takes his wand and taps the pumpkin.

“Cool…”

“Okay, so the spell for this seems kinda strange.” Mingyu says, even though Jeonghan has no idea what he’s talking about.

“I don’t think it can get any weirder.” He mutters to himself.

Mingyu ignores this. “You’re not allowed to laugh, and if this turns out wrong… well hopefully it won’t.” Mingyu takes his wand and aims at the pumpkin. “Bibbidi bobbidi boo!”

Jeonghan tries hard to keep a straight face. “Yeah, those magic words are kind of strange.”

Mingyu blushes, “Well, for most small spells I don’t have to say anything, except this one’s a big one, so I have to say the spell out loud...”

“A big one?” Jeonghan is about to point out that the pumpkin is really quite small (small pumpkin, small spell, right?), but when he turns to look at where the  _ supposedly _ small orange squash once sat, he notices that it is three times its original size, and still growing. 

Mingyu eyes the pumpkin, “Anytime now…” The fairy mutters. 

Suddenly the pumpkin explodes, and Jeonghan nearly jumps in surprise. 

Mingyu’s eyes widen. “Run!”

Jeonghan sees a fragment of the pumpkin come flying towards him, but it never hits. It was as if gravity no longer existed, and neither did shape nor time. The broken parts of the pumpkin were no longer squash-like, but instead pieces of gold metal floating back and reassembling itself. The vines of the pumpkin curled and solidified into wheels, and what was once the body of the pumpkin was a carriage.

“Ha HA!” Shouted a voice from behind him. “I knew I did the spell correctly!” Mingyu was smiling proudly  for himself from behind Jeonghan.

Jeonghan’s eyes are glued to the golden carriage, and he blinks a couple times, seeing if it would disappear as suddenly as it came. It doesn't, the carriage is still there. This can’t be possible…

“Totally possible.” Mingyu smiles. “And no, I cannot read your mind, it’s just what most people think when I do a spell in front of them. Although most of the time I really shouldn’t…” Mingyu has a fond smile on his face, as if he were reliving a pleasant memory. “Ha, Wonwoo was so surprised.” Mingyu mutters, and confirms Jeonghan’s theory. “Eh, whatever. Anyways, now I need… Rats!”

Jeonghan wants  _ something  _ to slow down, so that his brain can keep with the pace, but nothing seems to be stopping. He doesn’t  _ want _ anything to stop. It’s as if he were in a dream, and he knows he’s asleep. “Yeah, um,” Jeonghan says, “There’s always a couple rats around here. I mean, the cat never catches any…”

Mingyu grins. “Perfect.”

Ten minutes later there are four white chargers standing in front of Jeonghan’s house. “What… where are the rats?”

Mingyu uses his wand as a pointer, and sticks the tip towards the horses. “Right here.” Jeonghan doesn’t know what to say, and he doesn’t have time to think of anything to say before Mingyu starts talking again. “Now we have to fix the biggest problem. You.”

Jeonghan blinks. “Uh.”

The taller fairy suddenly starts laughing, “Sorry, I meant we have to fix your suit. Your friends made it for you, right?”

Jeonghan nods, “Yeah, Jisoo and Amber… How did you know?”

“I’m a fairy, duh.” That seemed to be Mingyu's answer to most of his questions.

Jeonghan feels his hands close around something that wasn’t there before, and realises he’s holding the torn up suit in his hands. The one his friends made him- the one that his stepmother put her metal scissors to use on.

Mingyu regards the suit carefully. “They did a good job on it. I think we can mend it.”

Jeonghan looks down at the beautiful mess of fabric in his hands. “But it’s… she cut it up. She said I couldn’t go to the ball.”

Mingyu frowns. “Your stepmother? That old bat. I’d turn her into a cockroach if I could.” He raises his wand determinedly and the suit is slowly lifted out of Jeonghan’s hand.

The torn up suit replaces the clothes Jeonghan is currently wearing, and the fabric is smooth and comfortable against his skin. There is light coming from all directions, and Jeonghan sees that the torn pieces of fabric are beginning to mend themselves back together. The yellow embroidery is replaced by delicate gold threads, making the patterns even more beautiful than they already were. “It’s… I… You mended it.” Jeonghan says.

Mingyu’s eyes suddenly widen. “Oh the time! You have to go now! I have to go now!”

It still feels like a dream, and Jeonghan doesn't understand the urgency. “Why are you helping me?”

Among the haste, Mingyu pauses, and considers the question thoughtfully. “Fairies are always watching, but we’re not really supposed to interfere unless there’s a good reason to. The other day, at Amber’s house, you helped me pick up the supplies I dropped even when you didn’t know me. That act of kindness is the reason I get to help you, now.”

“I…” Jeonghan can’t really think. He’s going to the ball. He’s  _ actually  _ going to the ball. “Thank you.”

Mingyu smiles, “You deserve it.” The fairy opens the doors of the carriage and ushers Jeonghan in. “The horses know their way. They’ll take you to the palace and back here when you need to be.”

“Are you coming?”

Mingyu seems to light up. “No, I have a date after this, and Wonwoo’s going to kill me if I’m late.”

Jeonghan nods as if he knows who Mingyu is talking about. “Mingyu, thank you. Thank you so much.”

Mingyu nods. “You have to go  _ now _ . You  _ will  _ go to the ball, and get that happily after you deserve.” Mingyu begins to turn away, but suddenly his eyes widen, “Ah frick, I forgot to tell you! At midnight, on the last stroke of twelve, the spell will be broken, and all this will disappear. Midnight!”

“Midnight?” Jeonghan repeats in wonder. “That’s… more than enough time.”

Mingyu smiles fondly. “Goodbye, Jeonghan.”

The carriage is suddenly in motion, and Jeonghan squeezes in one last  _ Thank you _ before the horses are set in motion. He thinks he hears Mingyu shout “Have fun with Seungcheol!”, but when Jeonghan turns to look out the window of the carriage, the fairy has already disappeared.

And Jeonghan is on his way to the palace. 


	3. Something Worth Looking At

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look at that I'm gonna use the SAME excuse I used for the last chapter and that is: this turned out A LOT longer than I expected!!  
> But like, THANK YOU to everyone who's reading, even with the super irregular updates but like hey, only one-ish more chapters left???

“Quit straining your neck, you're going to turn into a camel.” The captain snaps.

Seungcheol ignores this, of course- Jihoon insulting his everyday actions were an all too common occurrence- and continues scanning the ballroom, even though all the royals have yet to be present. The first dance doesn’t start until every royal family that has been invited arrives, and guests tend to stop flooding in after the first dance.

Still, even with the knowledge that there are still many guests only on their way, Seungcheol can’t help but feel the need to scan every face. It is a nearly impossible task, even from where he’s standing on the balcony, because there are just _so_ many people there.

The ballroom had just been painted last week, and new, extravagant chandeliers hung from every corner, dousing the room in a golden light. There’s been a lot of buildup to the Ring Ball, including, but not limited to, Seungcheol being passive aggressive towards his father, his father being a cold, unmoving brick and continuing to insist on Seungcheol picking a bride tonight, Seungcheol begging his father to let not only the nobility attend this ball, and finally, Seungcheol's greatest act of rebellion, being aggressive aggressive towards his father by not wearing the golden suit, and opting for a dark, royal blue one instead. He still has to wear the cape though, and the teasing he's had to endure from Soonyoung earlier that evening, along with Jihoon's hidden smirks, do not help.

There are so many things on his mind, he almost misses the face that suddenly appears in front of him.

“Lemon tarts?” A server offers.

There are many other servants bustling around, carrying platters of food, but this one stands out the most.

Soonyoung smiles up at them, looking particularly handsome in a standard serving attire, which consists of a black dress shirt that hangs loosely around his body, completely contrasting the _incredibly_ tight pants he's wearing beneath it. The dark colors of this attire were coordinated so that none of the servers would stand out too much, but the exact opposite is taking effect on Soonyoung. He looks like a mysterious, dark angel, disregarding the newly dyed mop of blonde hair on his head. Seungcheol glances over at Jihoon, but Jihoon seems perfectly content with just staring starry-eyed at Soonyoung. Typical.

At least it wasn’t _completely_ Seungcheol’s fault for revealing Jihoon’s secret, when he was so obvious about it himself (but it’s still for the best that Jihoon never finds out Seungcheol was the one who told Soonyoung about his feelings).

Seungcheol refrains from rolling his eyes at Jihoon’s blatant gawking, and instead says, “Wow, Soonyoung, you look amazing!”

Soonyoung’s bows his head humorously, “Why thank you, your _Royal Highness_ , but what about you? Why do you look like a disappointed camel?”

“I do _not_. What's with you guys and camels?”

Soonyoung laughs. “You’re standing on your tiptoes and straining your neck. But it's okay, it's not like you're salient... See? Now you have that annoyed face, like a camel.”

Jihoon, having regained his composure, averts his gaze from the handsome server in front of them, and turns to Seungcheol. “See? I told you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t look like a camel.”

Soonyoung opens his mouth to object, but Seungcheol cuts him off with a look. Instead, Soonyoung smiles innocently.

The young server then turns to face Jihoon, running his eyes over the other boy. "You look nice."

Jihoon struggles to keep a straight face. "Thanks. I wish the same could be said about you." Although they all know that's not true. Jihoon sucks at flirting.

Seungcheol sighs and shakes his head, a small, amused smile playing on his lips as he watches his two friends… bicker? Flirt? As he himself continues to scan the ball room.

“Looking for someone, Coups?” Jihoon inquires sarcastically.

Seungcheol opens his mouth to object, then closes it and frowns. “Oh shut up, you know who I’m looking for.” But Seungcheol can’t seem to find the boy from the forest, and he’s not even entirely sure he will.

“Certainly not a bride.” Soonyoung mutters quietly, so as to prevent the guests around them from taking interest in their conversation.

Seungcheol smiles, entertaining the idea of how disappointed his father would be, if he ever found out about what- _who_ \- was truly on his mind. But he won't, of course.

“What if your father sees you being so obvious?” Jihoon asks.

 _You’re one to talk_. “I’ll just tell him I’m… surveying the room for anyone interesting.”

Soonyoung frowns, “Well you don’t have to look too hard for _that._ ”

Jihoon raises a single brow. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Everyone here is so _hot_.” Soonyoung replies, successfully placing himself on the receiving end of Jihoon’s glare. “And also this one guy took three of my lemon tarts, but he didn’t eat any of them! I think that’s pretty interesting.” Soonyoung thrusts the tray of yellow sweets towards them, “Speaking of, please take one. I'm supposed to be working, meaning these tarts have to be missing.”

Seungcheol laughs. “What guy?”

Soonyoung scans the crowd for a second before landing on a particularly tall guest not too far away. “That guy.”

The “guy” would’ve been hard to spot among the sea of dark suits and bright dresses, had he not already been staring at Soonyoung. Seungcheol guesses that’s the guy. “I think it's because he _likes_ you.” Seungcheol teases, partly to see Soonyoung’s reaction, but _mostly_ to see what Jihoon would do about it if it were true.

Soonyoung sidesteps the statement expertly. “Would it matter if he did?”

“Yeah, kinda.” Jihoon replies, a slight frown on his face. He looks surprised the words had left his mouth.

Soonyoung’s eyes light up. “And why is that?”

Jihoon doesn’t look directly at Soonyoung and stammers to cover up his misstep. “I mean… that guy is tall and moderately-attractive looking, if you like him too that'd be… cool.”

 _This is so awkward_ . The scene playing out in front of him makes Seungcheol momentarily forget his own search for the boy from the forest, and he has half a mind to keep himself from slapping some sense into stubborn little Jihoon right then and there. _Okay_ , he decides; Seungcheol will be a good friend and step in for him. “Don’t work too hard tonight, Hoshi. You can still have fun, and...” Seungcheol gives him a teasing, suggestive look, “flirt.”

Soonyoung bursts out laughing. “No.”

“Still, there’s more to do.”

Soonyoung sighs, and, even though he’s merely responding to Seungcheol, looks directly at Jihoon when he says, “Yeah, but no one’s asked me to dance.”

Seungcheol mentally kicks Jihoon for being so _thick_ . Jihoon, on the other hand, physically and discretely kicks Seungcheol on the leg in panic. Seungcheol replies for him. “Just wait until all the royals get here, after the first dance. That’s when they save all the best music, it’s _gorgeous_.”

“It’s okay. I’m technically not even supposed to be in one place for too long, like I am now, talking to you guys.” Soonyoung then frowns down at the tray of lemon tarts. “ _And_ I’m supposed to get rid of all these, so please take one or I’ll be forced to shove them down your throats.” Seungcheol plucks one off the tray, and Soonyoung sets his gaze on Jihoon expectantly.

Jihoon only frowns and says, “You know I hate lemons."

Soonyoung smiles sweetly, “I know.” and pops one of the tarts into his own mouth.

Seungcheol decides that Jihoon can steer his own ship for now, and leaves his two friends to bicker while he continues to scan the ballroom. He figures he'll have to tune back in to their conversation yet again in just another couple of moments, but for now, he busies himself with this very important task at hand.

He suddenly recognizes a tall, brown haired boy standing towards the back of the room. It’s the boy from the forests’ not-boyfriend- Jisoo.

As if he can feel Seungcheol’s gaze, Jisoo turns around and makes direct eye contact with the prince.

 _Oh wait_.

That’s him.

Seungcheol’s the prince. Jisoo makes eye contact with Seungcheol, and the other boy’s eyes widen. Seungcheol can see the realization and shock dawn in his eyes.

_Seungcheol is the prince._

Seungcheol smiles and waves meekly to Jisoo, but the other boy is still staring, his eyes wide and mouth ajar.

It's strange that, from time to time, Seungcheol forgets he's actually a prince. This time he _also_ forgot that he had never told the boy from the forest, or Jisoo, that he was the prince.

“I’m… oh no, what do I _do_?” Seungcheol thinks he thinks. But he didn’t think it, because Jihoon and Soonyoung pause in the midst of their conversation to turn and look at him curiously, and Seungcheol knows he'd said it out loud.

“Coups? You good?” Jihoon asks.

“I…” Ah, Seungcheol doesn’t know how he’s supposed to explain this. “Um, you know how I never told the boy from the forest that I'm the prince?”

Soonyoung frowns in confusion. “What about the time you snuck into town to talk to him? Didn't you tell him then?”

Seungcheol shakes his head in response. “What do I _do_? What if… what if this changes everything? He’s going to find out I’m the prince, and…”

Seungcheol doesn’t know why this makes him so stressed _out_ . Would it have been better to have just come clean from the beginning, telling the beautiful boy he had met in the forest that he was a prince? Would that have changed anything? If the boy from the forest finds out now, will that change anything? Seungcheol is having a _crisis_ , and his two best friends are just standing there, looking _amused_.

“S. Coups.” Jihoon says solemnly, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You, my friend, have dug yourself into a deep, _royal_ hole. Good luck getting out of that.”

Seungcheol glares at him.

Soonyoung giggles.

Jihoon sighs. “Okay, fine, so what if you’re the prince? Being a prince doesn’t make you any less, or more, likeable.”

But the worried crease in Seungcheol’s expression doesn’t go away. “This will probably be the last time I see him, before I get… engaged, then married, and then crowned.”

“Hey, that’s not necessarily a _bad_ thing.” Jihoon says. “If it’s the last time you see him, then… you can do whatever you want tonight, without risk. You can ask him for the first dance. It won't matter if you pour your sappy little heart out.”

Seungcheol glances up, surprised. “In front of everyone? In front of my _father_?”

Jihoon nods and Soonyoung agrees. “If you think this is the last time you'll see the boy from the forest, then...”

In hindsight, what they're saying is true. Confessing his feelings would be a great deal easier knowing that if all flops and he's painfully rejected, he wouldn't have to see the boy from the forest and deal with the resulting embarrassment ever again; but he thinks that's the worst part. Seungcheol could confess his feelings to the boy from the forest, and it would mean _nothing_. He’d still have to choose some princess tonight, he’d still have to get engaged.

Seungcheol suddenly feels a strong, cold grip on his shoulder. He is swung around and sees Jaegeun standing right in front of him with a sneer. “Ready for the first dance, your grace?”

Seungcheol frowns. “With you?”

Jaegeun looks utterly disgusted. “ _No_ , not with _me_ .” The guard jerks his chin towards the staircase, where a single girl is descending down the velvet carpet. She bows down, her hair sweeping around her face, but when she rises the crowd sucks in a breath. Seungcheol is just as stunned by her beauty. She has long, dark auburn hair that cascades down past her shoulders in elegant curls, and her _face_. Pale skin, double eyelids, delicate shape- like all ideal beauty standards were dumped into one person.

The announcer, who had also looked very taken with her, finally clears his throat. “PRINCESS MINA OF ROSEDELL.”

“If you’re smart,” Jaegeun mutters to Seungcheol, “You’ll choose that one.”

But Seungcheol gawks at the beautiful girl and… yeah, he can’t feel anything. The only thought he conjures in his mind is _My father would like it if I chose her_. But that makes her no more appealing, and Seungcheol no more compelled to get down on one knee and propose to her.

“And if _you’re_ smart,” Jihoon glares towards Jaegeun, “You’ll keep your opinions out of the prince’s personal matters.”

Jaegeun only smirks. “What’s the matter? Little baby prince can’t defend himself?”

“Shut up, Jaegeun. You seem very impressed with Princess Mina, why don’t _you_ go ask her to dance?” Seungcheol bites back.

“So you can go find some other queer to dance with, isn't that right? What’s lacking from this Princess that you won’t take her? A dick?” Jaegeun gets that last part in before he abruptly shuts up.

The king has come up behind them. Jaegeun, Soonyoung, and Jihoon all bow in his presence. Seungcheol only glares at his father, another miniscule, vain act of aggression. He thinks he sees a look of pain in his father’s eyes, but Seungcheol can’t imagine why. His father was the one forcing him into getting engaged tonight, what does _he_ have to feel pained about?

“Father.” Seungcheol says curtly. Huh, that came out a little _too_ cold.

“My son,” The king frowns down at him, but he can’t scold Seungcheol in front of everybody, especially not in the middle of a ball, especially not right _now_. “I would like to introduce you to Princess Mina.” He leans in to mutter, “Make a good impression." It's a warning of sorts.

His father steps aside, and Seungcheol thinks _thank goodness_ , but in his place stands Princess Mina.

_Damn, it’s a trap._

Seungcheol finds that the princess is even more breathtaking up close. He can’t help staring at her, but he can only see her, and nothing else.

Seungcheol thinks that the boy from the forest has a different kind of pull that draws Seungcheol's eyes, and sometimes he feels as if he’s not _looking_ at at that boy. He’s looking at the other boy’s smile, the sparkle in his eyes, the sharp tongue and quick wit. The boy from the forest is beautiful in everything that he is, and when Seungcheol is looking at him, he can see more than just him.

It's different with Princess Mina. He can't see anything past the hair she hides behind.

Seungcheol bows his head at the princess.

Princess Mina grins. “You are even more handsome than your father told me.” She blushes.

Seungcheol’s eyes flit to where Jihoon is frowning, and Soonyoung is rolling his eyes. Seungcheol musters up a smile, but not because of Mina, but because Soonyoung makes a funny facial expression towards him to cheer him up. He clears his throat. “Thank you, and you are… very pretty. Stunning.”

The princess blushes again, but Seungcheol can tell this comment is no longer a novel thing for her to hear, and there is no point in blushing. It means nothing to her, just as being called handsome hadn't meant anything to him, at least up until the boy from the forest told him so; although technically he didn't tell Seungcheol that himself, Jisoo did. Even then the boy from the forest had denied it, but Seungcheol saw the glitter in his eyes, and the way the other boy tried hard to cover the words up, gave it all the more meaning. Opinions mattered more when they were from him.

His father clears his throat behind them. “Seungcheol, are you ready for the first dance?”

 _No_. “No.” He says.

He can _feel_ the disappointment radiating off his father. Jihoon and Soonyoung stand there, wordless, looking sympathetic. Princess Mina peers up at him, confused. _Why not?_

Because Seungcheol can’t find the boy from the forest.

Because Princess Mina isn’t the one he’s fallen in love with.

Because Seungcheol wants to ask the boy from the forest for the first dance.

“I mean,” Seungcheol amends. He searches his brain for an excuse, but thinking with the eyes of his king, Jaegeun, and Princess Mina all pressed down on him, almost glaring, is like talking to the wind, where words are lost behind nothing but time. Lost and jumbled up- and they can be used but they can’t. That doesn’t make sense. “Yes, yes I am ready.”

 

.   . .

 

Jeonghan wasn't aware he was in front of the palace until he was actually _in front of the palace_ , and the carriage abruptly stopped. It was so _big_ . Of course, because it was a _castle_. He had a nice view of it from his attic back at home, but now the building towers over him.

There is no one else around, and Jeonghan knows he’s late. His second thought is _I’m gonna get lost_.

There’s a long staircase leading up to a grand door. Jeonghan turns to look back at the pumpkin-carriage. He wants to go back.

_No he doesn’t._

It’ll just be easier go back. It’ll be easier to prick his finger on a hundred of his stepmother’s sewing needles, endure his stepsister’s cruel words, take day by day in slow, numbing pain, than it will be to enter through those palace doors. To have to face all those _people_ , their stares, and his greatest fears would surely hurt more.

But Jeonghan remembers Mingyu’s kindness, all he's been given to get here, and the suit he’s currently wearing from Jisoo and Amber. It’s too late to turn back, and... Jeonghan wants to see _him_.

He wants to see those brown eyes and dimpled smiles that have been on his mind ever since that day in the forest. He wants to see Seungcheol. It’s dumb, and Jeonghan may have yet come to terms with the fact that he was falling for a _boy_ , but it’s a long fall, and he doesn’t have to face anything until he hits the bottom.

Jeonghan heads up the stairs, towards the palace, and that’s the ground he’s heading towards- the end of his fall.

He wanders along the halls, and contrary to his prior belief, finds it challenging to actually _get_ lost. There is only one path towards a closed door with muted music playing behind it, which he guesses, quite obviously, is the ballroom. Jeonghan almost wishes he _did_ get lost.

The music stops.

Jeonghan pushes the doors to the ballroom open.

Of all things, he hadn’t expected the room to be so _beautiful_ . On the opposite side of the room is a balcony from which flowers hang off of, and a grand pianist plays on a stage just midway of the stairs to the balcony. And people, _so many_ people, turn to look at him as he enters, and Jeonghan thinks _This is what I get for being late_. He’s very late, and now everyone is staring at him. Among those eyes are probably that of his stepsisters and stepmother. His friends should be here too.

_Where are Jisoo and Amber?_

Seungcheol is in this room.

Jeonghan feels gravity change as he nears the end of his fall, and now he’s just waiting for the impact.

Jisoo comes up from behind him, and Jeonghan wants to collapse right then and there from just the _wave_ of relief. He grabs Jisoo’s arm for support. “I’m so sorry I’m late, oh my god, everyone’s staring I’m gonna die.”

Amber appears beside Jisoo. “Hey,” she greets, “You look hot!”

Jisoo nods eagerly. “You got the suit!”

Jeonghan’s eyes light up. “I can’t believe you guys actually got me this, thank you so much! How do I even… Oh my god guys, thank you. How did you even afford to get it?”

Jisoo directs a finger at Amber, and Amber replies, “It was my brother’s old suit.”

Jeonghan laughs even though it wasn't a joke. In reality, he's holding back tears from the joy and gratitude he feels. “Thank you so much. Do you want me to- can I pay you back?”

Amber laughs. “You can’t and you won’t. It looks… different. Like _way_ better on you.”

Jeonghan nods awkwardly, thinking about the adjustments Mingyu had made to the suit. “Thank you, I, uh, actually...” He wants to begin explaining the events earlier that night, but can't seem to find a way to make it sound… veridical.

Jisoo cuts him off. “Jeonghan, did you know Seungcheol-”

“THE PRINCE WILL NOW CHOOSE HIS PARTNER FOR THE FIRST DANCE.” The announcer yells, although the announcer never really yells, he just has a very projected voice, and it echoes in this room.

_What was Jisoo going to say?_

Jeonghan turns towards Jisoo, expecting him to continue, but he’s not looking at Jeonghan anymore. He’s probably looking for the prince, whom Jeonghan is also kind of curious to see, but just not as curious as he is to know what Jisoo was about to say. It was something about Seungcheol, and so Jeonghan's certain that information's more important than the prince choosing his partner for the first dance or whatever. Jeonghan smacks Jisoo on the shoulder to get his attention. _What?_ He mouths at his best friend.

Jisoo turns to look at him, seeming almost confused for a moment, but then his lips turn up in an amused smile. _You’ll see_. Jisoo mouths back.

Jeonghan frowns and is about to respond, but then the crowd around him suddenly parts. He looks around for Jisoo, but the crowd continues moving, and people either side of him are parting in opposite directions. Jeonghan's not entirely sure which direction _he’s_ supposed to move in.

Jeonghan finally spots Jisoo, and gives his best friend a questioning look. Okay, so apparently the crowd is parting for the prince. That's fine, Jeonghan does that too, and moves to stand by Jisoo. “The prince, you idiot.” His best friend hisses in his ear, and then he pushes Jeonghan into the empty space from where the crowd once was.

Jeonghan feels all eyes turn towards him, and… the prince. The prince is in front of him, having made his way from the opposite side of the room through the parted crowd.

Seungcheol.

It’s Seungcheol.

_Seungcheol is the prince._

Jeonghan feels Jisoo give him a _See?-Here’s-what-I've-been-trying-to-tell-you-you’re-on-your-own-now-though_ look, but he can’t seem to tear his eyes away from Seungcheol, from _the prince_.

Seungcheol who is the prince. The prince who is Seungcheol. It's still Seungcheol- it’s still Seungcheol, with his large, innocent brown eyes and full lips, moving across the room towards Jeonghan. Jeonghan notices Seungcheol's eyes on him, shocked.

Oh, right, his haircut.

But how can Seungcheol be shocked by a _haircut_ , when Jeonghan had just found out that Seungcheol is the _prince_?

Of course, Jeonghan’s own astonishment and realization doesn’t make him any less self conscious about the haircut. It’s _so_ much shorter than it was before, it’s a different color, and he finds that his hands have nowhere to go when he's overcome with the sudden urge to fidget.

Seungcheol stands right in front of him, and Jeonghan feels butterflies in his stomach. _Why does he have to be so unnecessarily handsome?_

Seungcheol has always been handsome, but now that he’s standing there, wearing a dark blue suit that accentuates all his features... even that dumb _cape_ looks hot on him. He looks like someone that belongs on a canvas painting, surrounded by lights and flowers. So beautiful Jeonghan’s not sure he’s even real.

And he has a crown on his head. That too.

But then the prince smiles, and Jeonghan sees the dimples and the familiar light in his eyes, and it’s _Seungcheol_ \- not a painting, not a ruler, and not untouchable. They make eye contact, and when Seungcheol blushes, Jeonghan no longer feels intimidated by the crowd, nor the crown on Seungcheol’s head. This was the boy that had shown him kindness when they first met, that had made him laugh after he ran away from what was home, and that blushed _surprisingly_ easy, even when Jeonghan was stumbling over his own words. The Seungcheol whom Jeonghan is too quickly, and super inevitably, falling for.

Jeonghan holds eye contact with this Seungcheol, and he can feel the amusement playing at his own lips, teasing.

Finally, Seungcheol’s voice cuts through the silence. “Do you… Will you let me lead you through the first dance?”

 _Damn, Jeonghan hadn’t expected the ground to come up_ this _hard._

 

.   . .

 

 _He cut his hair_.

It used to be long and purple, but now it's short and dark, revealing his face and his jawline, complimening his _eyes_ , those beautiful, vibrant eyes. Seungcheol feels as if all air had been knocked out of his lungs.

Just a moment ago, everyone had been holding their breath in anticipation for the first dance, but when the doors opened, Seungcheol let out a breath, and it was as if the world fell away when he saw the boy from the forest.

Seungcheol had felt as if he were drawn towards the other boy, and made his way down from the balcony, not caring that his father was watching, that _everyone_ was watching.

He remembered Princess Mina shooting out a hand to stop him. “Your highness?”

Seungcheo turned towards her, attempting a polite but hastened bow. “My apologies, I-”

“Son.” The king, his father, had cut him off.

Seungcheol looked back at his father, even though holding eye contact with superiors was a sign of disrespect. He was _supposed_ to be in big, rotten trouble, and the king was _supposed_ to say to Seungcheol whatever it was he wanted his son to do, but the king hadn't continued, not when all the citizens in the kingdom were watching. The king didn’t want to embarrass himself.

 _Too bad_ , Seungcheol thought, as he turned away from the people on the balcony, intending to ask a boy for the first dance. Not that it's an embarrassing thing, but he knows it isn't exactly something his father takes pride in, either. The king had never actually acknowledged Seungcheol’s sexuality, never asked him questions about it the way his mother had, before she passed away. When he'd made his way towards the boy from the forest, he'd been fully aware that even though he wasn’t a subject of pride for his father, he was making his friends proud, and he was making himself proud.

Now, he’ll be _really_ proud if he can get these damned words out of his mouth, because for whatever reason, they get all caught and messed up when he sees the boy from the forest, standing there looking like an angel that had just flown down to their quaint kingdom for a visit. Temporary, fleeting beauty.

There is shock in the other boy’s eyes, the same way Jisoo had looked shocked when he'd realized Seungcheol was the prince. But the shock fades away, and there is a _teasing_ smile on the other boy’s lips that wipes all thoughts and intents out of his mind.

It takes a while for him to remember _Oh, right, the dance_.

“Do you…” Seungcheol starts, and it’s like he’s learning how to use his voice for the first time, as if everything else had been erased, and every experience is new and novel and bright. “Will you let me lead you through the first dance?”

The boy from the forest hesitates, and looks around at the crowd. Everyone is _staring_ , and Seungcheol realises he did not think this through at all. He is not only outing himself, but also this other boy.

Maybe that’s too much. Maybe Seungcheol’s being dumb and running into all of this too quickly. Maybe…

The boy from the forest looks back and meets his gaze, and there is a look of uncertainty in the other boy's eyes. But it is gone when the boy from the forest smiles, and Seungcheol can feel the air in his lungs being knocked out of him as the boy from the forest nods.

“Did… is that a yes?” Seungcheol’s voice is disbelieving.

The boy from the forest laughs. “Yes.”

And then the music starts.

 

.   . .

 

Jeonghan remembers the first time they had met, as well as the first, and previously only, time he had ever held Seungcheol’s hand.

 _It’s just a hand, he’s just holding your hand_.

But it’s not just that.

Seungcheol takes Jeonghan’s hand in his own, and his other hand comes around Jeonghan’s waist. Jeonghan awkwardly places his free hand on Seungcheol's arm. He’s not even sure that’s what he’s supposed to do, because he’s never danced with a boy before. Okay, he’s never danced, _period_.

But when the music starts, Jeonghan loses himself. Seungcheol leads the dance, guiding Jeonghan through each note and every step.

The _music_ is beautiful. There had been a grand pianist playing short melodies prior to this, but now an entire symphony begins weaving sound throughout the room. And dancing is… it’s unlike anything he’s ever done before. Dancing with _Seungcheol_ is unlike anything he’s ever done before, because he doesn’t have to think about the next note or the next steps, only what’s now.

“You look beautiful today.” Seungcheol murmurs quietly, and a blush spreads across his cheeks as he says it.

_Cute._

_Damn that’s really cute._

Jeonghan raises a teasing brow. “Today?” Of course he’s referring to the haircut. Seungcheol hadn’t said anything about it yet, but… they’re talking about it now.

In all honesty, Jeonghan’s kind of surprised Seungcheol managed to find him amongst the large crowd with the new haircut. He knows he doesn’t look _super_ different, but… different. _Beautiful?_

“Yes, yeah, I mean… You cut your hair.” It was the same way he'd said _you dyed your hair_ all those months ago.

"You noticed." Jeonghan deadpans, eyes shining with mirth.

"It's pretty hard not to notice, especially when all your hair isn't covering your face. I mean, it was still good before, but… you know..." Seungcheol frowns as if he were confused with himself, and his words trail off

Jeonghan can feel his heart beating in his chest along with the music, and in the middle of attempting to keep up with the dance and trying _really_ hard not to blush, Jeonghan grins. “You think I’m beautiful.” Jeonghan repeats it as a _joke_ , but his own voice sounds disbelieving, and Seungcheol had said it with utmost sincerity.

Jeonghan can see Seungcheol think, and the other boy lights up with a grin. _Damn him and those dimples._ “You think I’m handsome.” Seungcheol shoots back, bringing up their conversation from when they'd met in town.

Jeonghan blushes and shakes his head in denial. “I think no such thing.”

Seungcheol laughs. “I’m gonna spin you now.” He whispers to Jeonghan.

Jeonghan’s eyes widen a fraction. “You know I can’t dance, right?”

But Seungcheol just smiles at him. They continue dancing to the music, and Jeonghan can’t tell if they’ve been doing this for a long time or not. This could go on for another hundred years, and Jeonghan wouldn’t know the difference. Time is swept up by the music and forgotten when Jeonghan meets Seungcheol’s eyes.

When Seungcheol spins Jeonghan it catches him off guard. Every move is kind of unexpected, but even more so this spin. He is met by the eyes of probably the entire town in this ballroom. Strangers are in that crowd. His friends are in that crowd. His stepmother and stepsisters are probably in that crowd watching him too.

Seungcheol’s cape flows around them the way the skirt of a dress might flow around in a dance if someone different were dancing- someone that’s not Jeonghan, but a princess. If Seungcheol were dancing with a princess, maybe not everybody would be looking.

When Jeonghan comes back against Seungcheol, he can’t bring himself to look into the other boy’s eyes. “Everyone’s staring.” Jeonghan murmurs, so quietly that he’s nearly certain it’s lost to the encompassing music.

But Seungcheol’s response comes a few seconds later. “Let them.”

Jeonghan had thought that no one in their right mind would be valiant enough to dance with someone of the same gender in front of the entire kingdom, but Seungcheol proves him wrong. Jeonghan proves himself wrong, because here he is, completely out of his right mind, dancing with the prince. But in this moment, he can't bring himself to care.

Jeonghan looks up at Seungcheol, and the other boy is smiling. He’s happy. He’s _happy_ to be dancing with Jeonghan.  

Seungcheol makes Jeonghan happy too, and when he looks into the other boy's eyes, he can't think of any reason as to why he deserves the hate he gets, and is undoubtedly going to get, for liking this boy.

Seungcheol pulls him close against his body nearing the last few notes, and they’re both breathing the same breath.

The song ends and the entire ballroom is silent. Slowly, almost as if the applause was coming person by person, the crowd erupts into a cheer.

Well _that’s_ not what Jeonghan had expected. Nowhere near what he'd expected the reaction would be for two boys taking the first dance.

Jeonghan is still breathless from the dance, but he feels the happiness pull his lips into a smile.

The announcer’s voice breaks through the applause. “LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, THE FIRST DANCE. LET THE RING BALL, OFFICIALLY, COMMENCE!”

The orchestra starts again with a lighter, more fast paced tune. This time, every guest begins partnering up and dancing, and the center of the room swells with people.

Jeonghan turns to look at Seungcheol, and the other boy is smiling. He takes Jeonghan’s hand and leans forward to say, “Follow me.”

They make their way through the crowd dodging waiters and dancing couples. A small part of Jeonghan is worrying he’ll suddenly run into his stepmothers and stepsisters, but so far in the night, they are nowhere to be found.

Seungcheol’s hand is cool against his as he leads Jeonghan out of the ballroom into the garden. The night air makes its way to Jeonghan, surrounding him, and he releases a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. The doors they had come through swing closed, cutting off the music they could hear. It’s silent outside, aside from the sound of rushing water in the fountains.

“I want to show you something.” Seungcheol says. He’s still holding Jeonghan's hand, and even though his hand is cold, it’s making Jeonghan’s entire body feel warm. Of course Jeonghan _could_ just _let go_ , but it’s not like he's gonna do that.

“Here.” Seungcheol says, coming up to a gate.

Jeonghan looks at it, and then at him. “Nice gate.” Because it was. It was tall and had ornate designs all over it.

“We’re gonna just… climb it.” Seungcheol suggests this with a sheepish smile.

Jeonghan’s eyes widen, “Oh no. No no no no no. We’re gonna die!”

“I’ve done it plenty of times before, and” Seungcheol gestures at himself, "I'm still here." This time Seungcheol’s smile is less nervous, more amused.

That smile will be the end of him. Almost literally, since that smile is the only thing that can convince Jeonghan to climb this ivory gate of sharp angles and sure death.

Seungcheol starts first, putting one foot over the crooks of the gate from its engravings. He climbs the gate confidently. _How does he do that looking so discerning?_

But when he nears the top, Seungcheol’s cape gets caught on one of the sharp points, and he must’ve lost his grip or something, because he suddenly falls down onto the other side with a loud _thump_.

“Oh my god!” Jeonghan shouts. “Are you dead?”

Seungcheol starts laughing from the other side of the gate. “I’m fine! That doesn’t usually happen.”

Jeonghan groans and starts up the gate himself. It’s not as hard as he'd thought it would be, but it’s not like climbing the gate is a walk in the park either. He climbs over the side and jumps off near the bottom, tumbling to the grass. He turns his head and Seungcheol is lying next to him.

They’re faces just happen to be very, strikingly close.

Jeonghan gets up immediately.

Seungcheol stays on the ground for a bit, trying to get his cape off. It’s ripped. “Dumb cape.” He mutters.

Jeonghan smiles and offers a hand to help him up.

Seungcheol takes it, and Jeonghan pulls him halfway up, but then he drops him, so Seungcheol loses his balance falls back onto the ground. “That’s for scaring me!” Jeonghan glares down at him.

Seungcheol starts _laughing_. “Hey, I’m the one who fell!”

“I thought you were hurt!”

Seungcheol looks up at him with shining eyes. “You care about me?”

Jeonghan looks at him incredulously. Even when he's stupid, Seungcheol still manages to be cute.

Jeonghan sits down next to Seungcheol. Then he grabs a pile of leaves and throws it at the boy next to him. “And that’s for not telling me you were the prince!”

Despite the heap of oncoming leaves, Seungcheol scoots closer to him. “Oh yeah, I um, kinda… forgot?”

Jeonghan glares at him. He's been doing that a lot, but it keeps the truth of how flustered he really is off his face, so he keeps the glare.

“Sorry?” But Seungcheol doesn’t look very sorry. He looks like he’s trying not to laugh.

Jeonghan groans and falls back so he’s lying on the grass, feeling a blush start to rise to his cheeks. _Idiot_.

“I told my stepsisters you were a total dick.” Jeonghan mumbles.

“What?”

The surprise in Seungcheol’s tone etches a humorous grin on Jeonghan’s face. “Yeah, they were super crazy about meeting the prince, but, you know, I said that the prince could turn out to be a total dick. I didn’t know _you_ were that dick.”

Seungcheol rolls his body over Jeonghan, placing his arms on either side of Jeonghan’s head.

Jeonghan can feel his face heating up, and looks to the side- certainly _not_ up at Seungcheol. “What are you doing?”

“Looking at you.” Seungcheol replies.

Jeonghan scrunches his nose in distaste. _Damn you._

Seungcheol laughs. “I really am sorry, though- for not telling you earlier that I was the prince. I thought… I thought maybe it would change things.”

Jeonghan finally looks up at Seungcheol _,_ and notices _Wow he’s really close_ , right after he thinks _Wow I could kiss him._ But he does nothing of the sort, and wipes the idea from his brain. “Like what?” Jeonghan asks.

Seungcheol shrugs. His lips are much closer to Jeonghan’s than he remembered them being before. Seungcheol bites his lip before responding. “The way you talked to me. The way you laughed. I’ve liked you since the day we met, and I liked your words and I thought you were funny and I don’t know… I didn’t want it to change.”

Jeonghan is blushing, but he looks straight up at Seungcheol and grins. “Did you just confess to me?”

Seungcheol’s eyes widen. “Oh my god, did I?” He rolls away from Jeonghan and sits up.

Jeonghan feels both relieved and disappointed. Seungcheol has too much of an effect on him.

He pushes himself up to a sitting position as well, and turns to look at Seungcheol. The other boy looks so damn _cute_ when he’s embarrassed.

“I mean, yeah, I guess I _kind of_ like you...”

Jeonghan tilts his head. “Kind of?”

Seungcheol’s face is dusted pink. “Are you teasing?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay, not kind of. I… I like you a lot.” Seungcheol finally looks at Jeonghan when he says this.

Jeonghan’s entire body feels warm, and he's thankful for the night wind. “I _kind of_ …” He hesitates before saying the next words. He’s going to regret this. Nothing good will come out of these words, if anything at all. “Like you too.”

This time Seungcheol has a teasing grin. “Oh, kind of?”

Jeonghan throws another handful of leaves at him. “Stop looking at me like that.”

“No.” Seungcheol’s face is pink and his eyes are bright and Jeonghan _really_ has to do something about that.

“Weren’t you going to show me something?”

“Oh, yeah.” Seungcheol stands up and brushes himself off, leaving his cape discarded on the ground. He reaches a hand down to help Jeonghan up, but Jeonghan eyes it suspiciously. Seungcheol laughs. “Relax, I’m not gonna let you fall like _you_ did.”

“You deserved it.” Jeonghan takes Seungcheol’s hand and stands up.

The look of amusement never leaves Seungcheol’s face. “I know I did.”

Seungcheol never lets go of Jeonghan’s hand, and Jeonghan doesn’t make any attempts to take his own hand out of his.

“About this place, I uh… I’ve actually never shown it anyone before. Like not even Jihoon and Soonyoung. They know I have somewhere I disappear to, but they don’t know about…” Seungcheol pauses in front of a rock, “Here.”

There is a curtain of plants covering the rock, and when Seungcheol moves the curtain aside, it’s a lot more than just a rock. He disappears behind the leaves, and Jeonghan follows behind him.

Jeonghan sucks in a breath when he sees what's hidden behind the inconspicuous curtain of vines. “It’s a secret garden.”

The area is naturally illuminated, glowing under the full moon. A small pond reflects the stars above it, casting a light on the white flowers that crown the body of water. There are other flowers- roses, daisies, and Jeonghan's-not-a-botanist-but-he-knows-they're-flowers- sprouted across every inch of grass and soil.

It’s beautiful.

It’s the kind of beauty he'd forgotten existed.

Seungcheol nods slowly, his face flushing. “I guess you can call it that.”

Jeonghan turns around to face him, and Seungcheol glances back at him shyly. “For you.” He says, handing Jeonghan a delicate flower.

Jeonghan’s entire body feels as if its been set on fire. “You are so…”

“Lame?”

“Beautiful.”

“What?”

Jeonghan frowns, both at what he said and at what Seungcheol had said. “Why lame?”

“Because I gave you a flower, which is kind of lame, but… I saw it and I thought of you. And I’m taking you here. Do you like it? Is it bad? I found this place when I was a kid, and thought it was cool so I… decorated it.” Seungcheol rambles.

Jeonghan wants him to shut up. “This place is beautiful. It’s about as lame as you are. This place is not lame.”

Seungcheol smiles dumbly. “So you don’t think I’m lame?”

“I’ll push you in the pond.”

Seungcheol laughs, and Jeonghan stares. He’s always staring when it comes to Seungcheol. “Close your eyes.” Seungcheol suddenly says.

“Is it because I’m staring?” Jeonghan asks, before he can stop the words from exiting his mouth.

“No, I mean… You were staring at me?”

Jeonghan doesn’t respond, but the color of his face is response enough. Seungcheol grins, “It’s okay, I stare too.”

“You think you’re so discreet.” Jeonghan huffs back, causing the other boy to laugh.

“Okay, you can do it now.” Jeonghan realizes Seungcheol is asking him to close his eyes, but he raises an eyebrow at the other boy suspiciously. Seungcheol conjures a pout from his lips. “Please?” He whines.

Jeonghan sighs and not-so-reluctantly-because-it’s-Seungcheol, lets his eyes flutter shut.

There’s a couple seconds where Seungcheol seems to be considering, and the silence makes Jeonghan anxious. “If you’re going to do that thing where you suddenly kiss me you better hurry up.” He says, as a _joke_ , but no more than a second later, a pair of lips comes crashing down on his, and it’s not so much of a joke anymore.

This may just be the best joke Jeonghan’s ever made, despite the fact that nobody’s even laughing.

Seungcheol’s lips are soft and warm on his. Every other part of him seems to be cold- his hands, his skin, his hair that Jeonghan runs his fingers through- just not his lips. It’s as if Seungcheol were the embodiment of wind in the night air, surrounding him and numbing his senses, but doing nothing to mitigate the flame Jeonghan feels burning through his entire body.

Seungcheol pulls away with wide, surprised eyes. “I wasn’t planning to do that.”

“I said it as a joke.” Jeonghan blurts out automatically, defending himself even though he didn’t even know what he was arguing for.

Seungcheol blushes and glances at him. “It wasn’t very funny.”

Jeonghan laughs, discarding the feeling of annoyance that had threatened to appear on his face when Seungcheol pulled away all-too-soon. Maybe not soon enough. Who knows.“I thought it was genius.”

A smile tugs at Seungcheol's lips. “Okay, it was kind of smart.”

Jeonghan pouts. “Then why’d you pull away so soon?” There’s that annoyance he thought he’d discarded. He didn’t. Evidently.

“I didn’t want to!”

They’re both blushing, and Jeonghan clears his throat awkwardly. “Good, well… me neither.”

Seungcheol’s dumb dimples are out again. “Good.”

He leads Jeonghan over to a white marble bench beside the pond that Jeonghan hadn’t even noticed before. Jeonghan sits on it, and Seungcheol kneels on the ground in front of him.

Jeonghan quirks a brow at him, and Seungcheol suddenly blushes and groans. The sound makes him feel _things_ , but that doesn’t have anything to do with anything. “You’re making this hard.” Seungcheol whines.

“I don’t even know what you’re doing.” Jeonghan responds in the same tone.

“Okay, so I’m not proposing to you.” Seungcheol says, as he pulls out a small, silver ring from his pocket.

Jeonghan doesn’t know what to expect, but it’s Seungcheol. He’s not worried. That doesn’t mean his heart still isn’t beating rapidly, though.

“I mean, we barely know each other…” The truth of those words hit Jeonghan _hard_ . “I mean, I don’t even know your name.” At this, Seungcheol glances up at Jeonghan, but Jeonghan just quirks one side of his lips up. Seungcheol pouts, but he continues, and everything that comes out of his mouth is so, effortlessly, perfect. “But I really, _really_ like you.”

That last line erases all of Jeonghan’s doubts, and his mouth drops open as he says disbelievingly,  “Why are you so gorgeous?”

Seungcheol blushes red and opens his mouth, then closes it, then opens it again. “Stop distracting me from my speech.” He clears his throat. “ _Anyways,_ my dad… he was going to make me propose to a princess tonight.”

Jeonghan, against-his-will, frowns. “Who?” That may have come out too strong. Did he sound like he cared too much? He does care a lot, and the great extent to which he cares is annoying him. Why did this affect him so much?

Seungcheol bursts out laughing. “Probably Princess Mina, since he keeps talking about her. She’s a physically stunning princess from across the world, that’s all.”

“Oh.” And that’s all Jeonghan can think to say. There’s an ugly feeling in his chest and he thinks it’s called jealousy. He doesn’t like it.

Seungcheol laughs and leans up to kiss the frown on Jeonghan’s face. Jeonghan softens a little, but reminds himself he has to keep _some_ walls up.

_Nevermind, mission abort._

_Seungcheol is breaking down all those walls without even trying._

When Seungcheol looks up at him with those dumb eyes and dumb dimples, Jeonghan grabs the front of his shirt and pulls him into an open-mouthed kiss. It’s messy and uncoordinated, but Jeonghan can feel Seungcheol smiling against his lips, and Jeonghan has to pull away because he’s laughing. Seungcheol looks so much more handsome with tousled hair and swollen lips.

“Bet Princess Mina can’t do _that_.” Jeonghan smirks, still cross with Seungcheol about the whole marriage thing.

Seungcheol gives him this dazed look, and that, paired with his tousled hair and flushed cheeks, makes it hard for Jeonghan to keep his hands to himself and not pull Seungcheol against him again into another kiss. Seungcheol places a hand on Jeonghan’s face. “ _No one_ else will be doing that.” And then he smiles, revealing all his teeth and both his dimples, “Only you.” Seungcheol closes his eyes, and his eyelashes, those ridiculously _long_ eyelashes, cast shadows against his skin. He takes a deep breath. “I’m not going to marry Princess Mina.”

Jeonghan feels as if a weight had been lifted off his chest and he can finally breathe. _Good_. “But what about your dad?”

Seungcheol smiles, but this one doesn’t reach his eyes. It’s not real, and it doesn’t really convince Jeonghan that everything is going to be okay. “I guess I’ll just have to tell him.” He says the next part nervously. “Will you… Will you come with me?”

Jeonghan nods reflexively, because it’s Seungcheol, and of course he’ll support Seungcheol. He hadn’t yet thought about the fact that Seungcheol’s dad isn’t just any dad, Seungcheol’s dad is the _king_. “Are you going to tell him now?”

“I want to do it now.” Seungcheol stands up looking energized.

Jeonghan follows him. “Okay.” And he hopes he’ll be enough for Seungcheol. Jeonghan doesn’t even really remember much about his father- time has weathered his memories down to little bits of sand, and sifting through it was a mess. Jeonghan doesn’t remember if he’s ever made his father proud, if he’d ever even tried to make his father proud, like Seungcheol did. Jeonghan knows that Seungcheol wants his father’s approval, wants to make him proud. Jeonghan can’t help but feel as if _he’s_ the one disrupting that. What if Seungcheol’s father doesn’t approve of him? Does Seungcheol’s father even know he’s gay?

Jeonghan is lost in his thoughts when Seungcheol stops abruptly and turns around. “Oh wait.”

Jeonghan runs into him.

Seungcheol has his arms around Jeonghan and laughs. “I forgot about the ring.”

“The one you were going to give to Princess Mina?”

“No, the one I’m going to give to you.”

Jeonghan’s heart stops beating right then and there. His brain short circuits, and he blurts, “You said you weren’t going to propose to me!”

Seungcheol takes Jeonghan’s hand carefully and kisses it, sending shivers through his body. “It’s not- I’m not asking you to marry me. I mean, I don’t think even a majority of people in this world know it’s _possible_ for people of the same gender to fall in love with each other. My dad knows about me… But we can’t… I don’t know if it’s possible for us to get married. I don’t even _want_ to get married…”

Jeonghan gives him a look and raises a brow. He didn’t want to get married either but…

“Right now. I don’t want to get married right now, but… One day. It’s not a proposal, but a promise. That’s a thing right? A promise ring?” Seungcheol is blushing. “I want… I want to be with you. I don’t want to be with anyone else. Maybe one day, far away from now, we can get married but…” Seungcheol trails off and looks to interpret Jeonghan’s reaction.

Jeonghan doesn’t know what his face looks like, but he knows that inside his chest, his heart is hammering in all different directions.

“Or not.” Seungcheol blurts out. “If you don’t like me like that, that’s cool too. If it’s too much, and you don’t want to-”

Jeonghan shuts him up with a kiss. Their third-ish kiss that day. It’s going to become a habit- one that Jeonghan intends to keep. “Please stop talking.”

Seungcheol looks at him worriedly and opens his mouth to say something, then thinks better of it and bites his lip, waiting for Jeonghan to continue.

“Yes. I know it’s not a proposal, but _yes_ I like you, and I want to be promised to you, or whatever the dumb heck you just said and I’m supposed to say. I don’t want to be with anyone else either.” Jeonghan feels the waterfall of his emotions spilling over, as if it had been frozen for an entire winter and Seungcheol was the spring. Seungcheol was the thing that melted ice and made waterfalls and rose buds.

Seungcheol exhales and smiles, really really happy, looking at Jeonghan.

“What?” Jeonghan asks nervously.

“I’m so happy right now.” Seungcheol’s voice cracks and he starts laughing. “Wow, you make me so happy.” Jeonghan starts laughing too, and through their crinkled eyes and happily curved lips, Seungcheol brings the silver ring into the space between them. “Promise?”

Jeonghan tries his best to gather all his emotions, but that’s about as easy as running around a meadow with a small net aiming for butterflies. “Yeah, promise.”

Seungcheol takes Jeonghan’s hand and slides the ring onto his finger. The weight feels natural, and Jeonghan thinks some separate, lost part of his soul has finally clicked into place. When Jeonghan looks up to meet Seungcheol’s eyes, the other boy has a big, _dumb_ smile on his face.

“Come on, let’s go talk to my father.” Seungcheol intertwines his fingers with Jeonghan’s, and they make their way out of the secret garden, and up and over the gate.

The prospect of meeting Seungcheol’s father is no longer as scary, and Jeonghan doesn’t know if he suddenly feels the lack of fear because of the silver ring on his finger, or something else. The ring, as Seungcheol said, was a promise, and wearing it gave Jeonghan all the more confidence in their relationship.

“We can cut through the art room.” Seungcheol says beside him.

They near an elaborate door, which Jeonghan assumes is the one to the art gallery (there's really no concrete way to tell, all the doors were elaborate).

Seungcheol pushes the doors to the art gallery open, just in time to see someone stumbling back from a shorter, blushing male.

They’re Seungcheol’s friends that were with him that day in the forest- Soonyoung and Jihoon. It takes a while for Jeonghan to recognize them, because while Soonyoung’s green hair is gone in exchange for a platinum blonde, Jihoon has dyed his hair completely black, and not to mention the fact that they're both standing ten feet apart awkwardly and blushing.

From beside him, Jeonghan feels Seungcheol suck in a breath. “Oh. My. God.”

Jihoon clears his throat and turns to look at them, taking notice of Jeonghan. “Oh, hi.”

Jeonghan smiles, amused, and waves. Seungcheol’s eyes are still wide in shock.

“You’re the boy from the forest!” The other blonde boy, Soonyoung, pipes up.

He’s about to introduce himself, when he realizes he still hadn’t even told Seungcheol his name. Maybe now isn’t the right time to introduce himself just yet.

Luckily, he doesn’t really have to say anything, because Seungcheol has traded waving his arms in confusion for actual words. “How long has this been going on?”

“Since I first met him.” Soonyoung replies, looking at Jihoon. Then he blushes and looks back at Seungcheol. “Oh, you meant the making out? Like, 5 seconds maybe, before you barged in.”

“We weren’t making out.” Jihoon says pointedly.

Soonyoung pouts. “We weren’t?”

Jihoon glares at him. Their banter is cute, but that doesn’t mean Jeonghan would ever want to be on the receiving end of that glare. Soonyoung is brave enough to shoot back a cheeky smile, and it softens Jihoon’s gaze for a fraction of a second.

Jihoon sighs. “Did you need something, Seungcheol?”

Seungcheol tears his gaze away from the pair of them and looks back at Jeonghan. “Yeah, um… Where’s my father?”

“He’s on the balcony in the ballroom.” Jihoon replies.

Seungcheol takes Jeonghan’s hand and leads him out of the art gallery, but not before shooting a look back at both of them. “This conversation," he makes a circular gesture with his hand, "isn’t over.”

“What conversation?” Soonyoung calls out as the door closes.

When they’re alone in the hallway, Jeonghan says, “That’s cute.”

Seungcheol looks over at him. “What, Jihoon and Soonyoung?” There’s a fond smile on his face when he talks about his friends. “They drive me crazy. Jihoon’s been pining over Soonyoung since forever, they’re…”

“Cute.” Jeonghan finishes.

“Gross.”

Jeonghan looks down at their linked hands and cocks his head to the side. “Grosser than us?”

Seungcheol scrunches his nose. “Not by a long shot.”

They’re standing in front of a familiar engraved door, except that this one is the back entrance of the ballroom. When the door swings open, they have a view of the entire party from the balcony.

“Wait here while I get my father?” Seungcheol asks, turning to Jeonghan.

Jeonghan nods, and Seungcheol is lost to the small crowd.

The balcony isn’t very large, but there are still a few too many people on it. Jeonghan awkwardly squeezes himself into a corner. He wonders where Jisoo and Amber are, and busies himself by scanning the room for their faces.

“Well.” A velvety voice suddenly comes up from behind him, interrupting his search. “Who do we have here?” His words are laced with malice. “The boy that the prince has been so enchanted with? Another little deviant, is it?”

Jeonghan's entire body tenses, and he feels his skin crawl at the tone of the other man's words. “Excuse me, who are you?”  
“I’m the grand duke, Jaegeun.” The man replies, his mouth stretched out too thin and curled up at the sides, “And you? What do they call you?”

“It doesn’t matter to you, I’m sure.”

Jageun smirks and steps closer to Jeonghan. _Too_ close. But Jeonghan isn’t really in any position to back away, so he stays rooted where he is as Jaegeun talks. “Oh believe me,” The man coos, “your name will matter very much soon enough, if you continue eloping with the prince.”

Jeonghan doesn’t know what to say to that, so he doesn’t say anything.

Jaegeun, on the other hand, is all too content with hearing himself talk. “It is quite disgusting, you know? Breaking the rules of nature.”  
Jeonghan feels fear creeping to the edge of his consciousness, but he doesn’t let it show on his face. He _refuses_ to let it show on his face. “Yeah, well according to the rules of nature, you’re a little too much in my personal space, then. Aren’t you _against_ men being with men?”

“Oh, but I thought _you_ might enjoy it.” The grand duke finishes with a creeping smile.

The look on his face makes Jeonghan’s skin crawl, and he considers bringing up a knee to the other man’s crotch and booking it. Before he can commit any bodily harm to the grand duke though, a voice cuts in from behind them.

“Jaegeun.” Seungcheol stands there like a beacon in the night, and Jeonghan's body tenses, like it always does when he's nervous. He wonders when his heart will ever stop feeling so jittery around Seungcheol. Most likely never.

Jaegeun turns his hungry gaze on the prince. “Your highness.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be kissing my father’s ass or something?” Seungcheol glares. Jeonghan’s mouth drops wide open. How can Seungcheol talk to someone like _that_ , and with so much confidence? It makes him, like, ten times more attractive.

“Unlike _you_ , I don’t toy with other men.” Jaegeun jeers.

“Or with anyone, for that matter.” Seugcheol mumbles.

Jaegeun’s eyes snap up. “What was that?”

“Nothing.”

“Careful, your majesty. You better watch your tongue.” Jaegeun makes to leave, but before doing so, he turns around and directs his gaze towards Jeonghan.

Jaegeun’s eyes feel like daggers on his skin. The grand duke shoots out a finger and tucks it under Jeonghan’s chin, forcing his eyes to meet the other man’s face. “This one’s rather pretty, your highness. Feminine face, but…” Jaegeun lets his eyes wander down. Before Jeonghan can do anything, Jaegeun lets go, and the absence of his presence lets air finally flood back into his lungs. “Let’s see how long he lasts before your wedding day, hm? Princess Mina won’t be too pleased to hear her fiance is playing with other men. She will put an end to it quickly, maybe even before your father does, I'm sure.”

Seungcheol’s eyes narrow in both suspicion and confusion. “Princess Mina…?”

Jeageun smirks. He has the upper hand now, and he flaunts it in their faces. “Didn’t your father tell you? He’s already chosen your bride, including the wedding date. It was never your choice in the first place. And even if he hadn't already made the decision for you, he certainly wouldn’t have let you choose,” Jaegeun turns to Jeonghan, sniffing in distaste, “ _him_.” Seungcheol stands there wide eyed, looking shocked and lost, and Jaegeun laughs out loud. “Honestly Prince, I thought you’d have figured this out on your own by now, or you're even more of an fool than you seem. Anyways,” He finishes with a wave of his arm, “Have fun. While you still can, at least.” And with that, he’s gone.

“Hey.” Seungcheol says, siding up closer to him.

Jeonghan straightens when he feels Seungcheol’s hand press against his back. “I _really_ wish I could’ve punched him.”

Seungcheol laughs. “Me too.”

Jeonghan meets his face and that smile. That temporary, beautiful smile. Oh, he’s going to miss that the most.

Seungcheol clears his throat. “Are you okay though? Did Jaegeun say anything else to you?”

Jeonghan musters up a smile. “No, it was fine.” _Liar_. Jaegeun’s words had left him more shaken up than he’d thought. They were everything he’s ever feared about his sexuality, dragged up and dropped right in front of him in one big, ugly pile.

“The marriage, it’s… it’s nothing, I’m sure.” Seungcheol says, even though he doesn’t look sure. They’re both liars, then. “I mean, we can talk to him about it, right?”

“Cheol, I…” _can’t_ . Jeonghan wants to say. He can’t ruin the kingdom’s future like that. He can’t ruin _Seungcheol’s_ future like that. Seungcheol _should_ marry Princess Mina. Jeonghan is just a distraction to all of that, something that isn’t meant to last longer than tonight.

Seungcheol’s gaze turns questioning, and he looks so _cute_ like that, that Jeonghan almost doesn’t want to say anything. He wants to pull the other boy away and kiss him senseless. He wants to tell Seungcheol that _yes_ , it will be okay, and _nobody will care that I’m a boy, and that you're a boy too._

The ring of a bell from the clock echoes throughout the ball room.

It snaps Jeonghan out of his reverie, and he locks eyes with Seungcheol. “It’s midnight.”

“Yes…” Seungcheol replies, nodding slowly, “it is.”

“I have to go.” Jeonghan blurts out. What was it Mingyu had told him? On the last stroke of midnight, the spell will wear off? It wasn’t the first stroke, evidently, as the suit he’s wearing is still on him. What if it were something random, like the sixth stroke of midnight? Jeonghan curses himself for being an idiot and not keeping an eye on the time.

“Wait, what? Why?” Seungcheol asks, looking concerned.

 _Idiot_. The prince shouldn’t have to be concerned for someone like him. It’s painfully endearing, and it breaks Jeonghan’s heart into thousands of tiny little pieces. “It’s…” Jeonghan thinks back to Mingyu and the pumpkins and the magic, “Hard to explain.”

“What about my father? I was going to introduce him to you.”

Jeonghan forces himself to look away from Seungcheol, to think about what Jaegeun had said, and focus on keeping Seungcheol safe, away from the scorn of the entire kingdom. “We can’t. I have to go, _now_.”

Seungcheol stands there, still looking confused. Good.

That split second gives Jeonghan a headstart through the crowd, and out the palace.

 

.   . .

 

It’s the first dance, when her daughter asks, “Who is that amma?”

Even with her heels, she has to strain to see the prince, and the prince’s partner, over the crowd.

Short hair.

A _boy_.

It’s an embarrassing sight, and she was appalled the prince chose to perform such a traditional dance with someone of the _same gender_ , in front of the entire kingdom, even with the presence of other deities from foreign lands.

 _Disgusting_.

She doesn’t want to watch them for too long, and saves herself from the cursed sight. She thinks Jeonghan should thank her for forcing him to stay at home, because at least he didn’t have to see the prince embarrass himself in front of the entire kingdom.

It’s midnight, and someone pushes past her.

“Excuse you!” She seethes.

It’s a young boy.

“My apologies, excuse me.” The boy says. His voice sounds familiar, but she can’t catch a glimpse of his face.

The boy runs off.

The prince follows shortly after. Her eyes widen and she wants to grab him, to get him to dance with one of her daughters, but the prince is gone just as fast, chasing after the other boy. From behind, she identifies the first young boy as the prince’s dance partner.

She can pinpoint the voice now. It sounds like Jeonghan’s. That voice which had cursed her for so many years.

But... it couldn’t be Jeonghan.

 

.   . .

 

“Wait!”

Seungcheol was quicker than Jeonghan had anticipated. The distance between them was shrinking, even as Jeonghan was trying his best to increase his pace. The struggle of getting the huge doors open had slowed him down, and now he was racing down what seemed like hundreds of steps. Which exit had he gone through? There certainly weren’t this many stairs when he'd came in.

He suddenly feels his heart lurch within his chest as he stumbles on one step. _What a great time to be clumsy_ , he thinks sardonically.

He raises an arm up to lesson the impact his body has with the ground.

In the next second, two strong arms are around him, helping him up. “Dumb shoe plotting against me.” Jeonghan mutters under his breath, as he readjusts the shoe on his foot.

“Was it…" Seungcheol is breathless from running. "Was it something Jaegeun said?” Seungcheol asks, and his eyes are searching up and down Jeonghan, making sure he’s alright.

It makes Jeonghan want to smack him. “He didn’t say anything I didn’t already know.”

“I’m gonna kill him.” Seungcheol says, completely serious. It’s incongruous, coming from someone with such a benign face.

Jeonghan, against his own will, laughs. “You can’t.”

“I can too, for saying whatever he said.”

“It wasn’t Jaegeun's fault, it’s my choice now to leave.” Jeonghan can’t really believe he’s standing there, defending that arrogant pest of a man, but it’s the truth. “You don’t want me, Cheol.”

“You don’t know what I want.”

“No,” Jeonghan scoffs softly. “I don’t know _you_ . I just met you. And you don’t know me, either. You don’t even know my _name_.”

Seungcheol’s eyes have a stubborn fire in them. “Then tell me.”

That gaze burns through Jeonghan’s heart, and it's his torch in this wide expanse of darkness. “You don’t _understand_ , Cheol.” His mind is grabbing at anything that will get Seungcheol to leave him, and with the door already open, Jeonghan can’t get the words to stop flowing out of his mouth, “I’m poor, I don’t have a family, I’m- I'm an _orphan_ . And as if that weren’t a large enough gap for the world to wedge between us, I’m a _boy_.”

Seungcheol takes a step towards him. “I don’t care.”

The words make his heart skip a beat, but they're just as infuriating. _Can you though, about yourself?_ “I know that." Jeonghan snaps. "I cut my hair, not only because I wanted a change, but also because maybe, just maybe, it would make me look more like a boy, and you'd finally realize that you'd fallen for a male. But you don't _care_ , and  I… I love that about you…" He trails off. There was a point to all this, a destination for his speech, but now he's gone and gotten himself lost. "This isn’t about me." Jeonghan continues, "You deserve the kingdom's love, and a brilliant future without people constantly mocking you for being with _me_ . You deserve a future with someone you can truly love, who'll give you good advice, experiences, and a happy family, and… I can’t give you that.” Jeonghan laughs bitterly and lets his gaze run over the prince one last time. The _prince_. He brings a hand up to Seungcheol’s cheek. “You knew this, between us, was never going to work in the first place.” He lets his thumb run over the other boy’s sharp jawline, taking in every detail. He has to run soon. “My name is Jeonghan."

Seungcheol's lips part in surprise, as if he hadn't expected to be receiving all of that information, and he's staring at Jeonghan. Jeonghan hadn't expected to be giving him all of that information either, but Seungcheol still stares. He stares at Jeonghan as if he were something worth looking at, but Jeonghan knows he's not.

"Thank you for tonight.” Jeonghan says, not looking directly at him. He doesn't think he can bear the pain of seeing the expression in Seungcheol's eyes.

Jeonghan slips the silver ring off his finger and presses it into Seungcheol's palm.

The clock strikes again, the bell ringing throughout the night.

Jeonghan turns and runs as fast as he can towards the carriage. It's as if the mice-horses were just as aware of the tight time constraint with which the spell would remain in effect.

He hears Seungcheol call out after him, and it's the first time Jeonghan's heard his name coming from Seungcheol's lips.

Jeonghan doesn't turn back.


End file.
